Mulder's Daughter
by NeoMulder
Summary: How would the adventures of Mulder and Scully been different if they had another partner? What if that partner was someone very special to Mulder? Find out here.
1. Chapter 1, Impossible

Chapter One: Impossible

I sat by my father Agent Fox Mulder while he went through some slides on his desk. I was about to ask if there was anything I could help with when there was a knock on the door.  
"Sorry, nobody down here but the FBI's most unwanted." Mulder called out. I grimaced. That was so true. I glanced over at the door when it opened and a auburne haired woman walked in. She appraised me and my father. Then she looked at the various pictures of UFO's and the poster that read 'I Want To Believe' with a UFO on it. Mulder looked at her.  
"Agent Mulder. I'm Dana Scully, I've been assigned to work with you." She said holding out her hand.  
Mulder shook her hand. "Oh, isn't it nice to be suddenly so highly regarded? So, who did you tick off to get stuck with this detail, Scully?"  
"Actually, I'm looking forward to working with you. I've heard a lot about you." Agent Scully replied. Really?  
"Oh, really? I was under the impression... that you were sent to spy on me." Mulder smiled at her. What?  
"If you have any doubt about my qualifications or credentials, th..." Agent Scully began, but trailed off when Mulder stood up and pulled a paper from the pile on his desk with his phone on top to hold them down. I smiled slightly.  
"You're a medical doctor, you teach at the academy. You did your undergraduate degree in physics." Mulder took his glasses off and looked at the paper as I came to stand behind him. ""Einstein's Twin Paradox, A New Interpretation. Dana Scully Senior Thesis." Now that's a credential, rewriting Einstein."  
"Did you bother to read it?" Scully asked. Of course he did.  
"I did. I liked it." Mulder answered before taking a slide canister and put it in the slide projector. "It's just that in most of my work, the laws of physics rarely seems to apply." He walked past her and turned off the lights. Scully glared at him slightly. "Maybe I can get your medical opinion on this, though." He pressed a button on the control and a slide came up on the viewscreen of Karen Swenson, face-up. "Oregon female, age twenty-one, no explainable cause of death. Autopsy shows nothing. Zip." He changed the slide to that of the two bumps on her back. "There are, however, these two distinct marks on her lower back. Doctor Scully, can you ID these marks?" I watched Scully curiously.  
"Needle punctures, maybe. An animal bite. Electrocution of some kind." Scully said as she walked up to the viewscreen. He changed the slide to that of a molecular diagram.  
"How's your chemistry? This is the substance found in the surrounding tissue." Mulder said.  
"It's organic. I don't know, is it some kind of synthetic protein?" Scully asked.  
"Beats me, I've never seen it before either." Mulder replied. The next slide was of a boy face-down on railroad tracks, his shirt lifted in the back. "But here it is again in Sturgis, South Dakota." The final slide was of a close-up of another set of bumps. "And again in Shamrock, Texas."  
"Do you have a theory?" Scully asked him.  
"I have plenty of theories." Mulder said as he walked over to her. "Maybe what you can explain to me is why it's bureau policy to label these cases as "unexplained phenomenon" and ignore them. Do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrials?" He whispered the last part eerily.  
Scully smiled. Bet I know her answer to this. Skeptic. "Logically, I would have to say 'no.' " Mulder nodded, expecting this answer like me. "Given the distances needed to travel from the far reaches of space, the energy requirements would exceed a spacecraft's capabilties th..."  
Mulder cut her off. "Coventional wisdom. You know this Oregon female? She's the fourth person in her graduating class to die under mysterious circumstances. Now, when convention and science offer us no answers, might we not finally turn to the fantastic as a plausibility?"  
"The girl obviously died of something. If it was natural causes, it's plausible that there was something missed in the post-mortem. If she was murdered, it's plausible there was a sloppy investigation. What I find fantastic is any notion that there are answers beyond the realm of science. The answers are there. You just have to know where to look."Scully said.  
"That's why they put the "I" in "F.B.I." See you tomorrow morning, Scully, bright and early." Mulder responded before going back and sitting down at his desk. "We leave for the very plausible state of Oregon at eight A.M."  
Scully turned to me. "I'm sorry I didn't get your name."  
"River. River Mulder." I said watching her reaction with amusement.  
She looked shocked. "You're his daughter?"  
I nodded. "I'm also his assistant."  
"Wait you work here? You're like fifteen." Scully said shocked.  
"Yes. I work here. And I'm Sixteen. See you tommorrow at eight." I responded, slightly offended.  
She smiled and walked out.

Later on the plane I watched Mulder as he slept, headphones in his ears, from across where he was stretched out on the seats. Scully was sitting nearby, wearing glasses and flipping through newspaper clippings of the dead teenagers. The jet engines were drowning out the murmering voices of people in the back. I stared at the paper as Scully focused on the name 'Dr. Nemman'. I looked up as the overhead loudspeakers rang. "I would like to ask all passengers to fasten their seatbelts, as we're about to make our descent..."  
Scully started to put her things away when the plane started shaking violently. People screamed and things were tossed about as Scully held onto her seat. She looked at Mulder who was now awake, but still lying passively down on the seats. The plane leveled out and I heard her sigh in relief. I chuckled.  
Mulder turned over and looked at her. "This must be the place."

"Finally." I said from the backseat as we passed a sign that read 'Welcome to Bellefleur, Oregon.'. It felt like we had been driving for hours. Scully was reading the files and Mulder was eating sunflower seeds while driving. With me stealing some at regular intervals of course.  
"You didn't mention yesterday, this case has already been investigated." Scully broke the silence.  
"Yeah, the FBI got involved after the first three deaths when local authorities failed to turn up any evidence. Our boys came out here, spent a week, enjoyed the local salmon which, with a little lemon twist, is just to die for, if you'll pardon the expression. Without explanation, they were called back in. The case was reclassified and buried in the X-Files, till I dug it up last week." Mulder replied.  
"And you found something they didn't." Scully stated.  
"Mmm." Mulder said as if to say yes.  
"The autopsy reports of the first three victims, show no unidentified marks or tissue samples. But those reports were signed by a different medical examiner than the latest victim." Scully continued. Good observation.  
"That's pretty good, Scully." Mulder complimented.  
"Better than you expected or better than you hoped?" Scully asked.  
"Well... I'll let you know when we get past the easy part." Mulder responded.  
Scully laughed. "Is the medical examiner a suspect?"  
"We won't know that until we do a little gravedigging. I've arranged to exhume one of the other victims' bodies to see if we can get a tissue sample to match the girl's. You're not squeamish about that kind of thing, are ya?" Mulder asked her.  
"I don't know. I've never had the pleasure." Scully responded. Just then the radio started flipping through channels rapidly, various sounds blaring. That's strange. As Mulder tried to adjust it, the clock started changing as well. The radio became a high pitched screeching and Scully covered her ears. Mulder and I looked up at the sky. "What's going on?"  
Mulder pulled the car over to the side of the road and turned it off. Scully and him climbed out and I unbuckled and turned around in the seat to watch them. Mulder opened the trunk and I waited to see what he would grab. He came out with a can of pink spray paint and walked over to where the occurance began. Scully watched in wonder as he marked a giant 'X' on the ground, then tossed the spray paint can back into the trunk. A few moments later he closed the trunk. Scully spoke up then. "What the hell was that about?"  
"Oh, you know... probably nothing." Mulder said before climbing back into the car.  
"'X' marks the spot." I murmered. This was getting fun.

After driving through town we arrived at the cemetery. Getting out I saw a number of men standing around along with a crane. Two of the men walked over to Mulder, Scully, and I.  
"Mister Mulder, John Truitt, County Coroner's Office." He introduced himself.  
"Yeah, hi." Mulder greeted before shaking hands with Mr. Truitt. "This is Agent Scully. And my daughter, River." The two men gave me odd looks.  
"Hi." Scully said shaking hands with him.  
"How soon can we get started?" Mulder asked.  
"Hello." Scully said to the assistant as they shook hands. I nodded to both the men.  
"We're ready to go." Mr. Truitt said to Mulder.  
"Oh great."  
"Okay, Vinnie!" Mr. Truitt called.  
The crane started up as the five of us started up the hill.  
"Were you able to arrange for a, uh... an examination facility?" Mulder asked.  
"I think we got something for you..." Mr. Truitt said as a car pulled up. Inside was a man and a teenager.  
"Excuse me!" The man called. We turned to look at him. "Excuse me!" He started toward us angrily, but turned and moved his daughter, I was assuming, to the passenger's side. I listened closely to what he was saying. "No. Please stay in the car... let me handle this. I just want to talk to them." The girl got back in the car and the man walked over to us. "I just don't know who you people think you are. You just think you can come up here, and do whatever you damn well please, don't you?"  
"I'm sorry, you are..." Mulder said.  
"I'm Doctor Jay Nemman. I'm county medical examiner." The man replied.  
"Surely, you must have been informed of our intentions to come up here." Mulder said. You would think so.  
"No, uh, no. We've been away." Mr. Nemman said slowly.  
"Oh, oh. Well, that answers the question that we had. Why you hadn't done the recent autopsy on Karen Swenson. You're aware of the tissue sample that was taken from the girl's body." Mulder stated.  
"Wha... wha... what is the insinuation here? Are you saying that I missed something in those other kids' exams?" Mr. Nemman asked angrily.  
"We're not insinuating anything, sir." Scully said.  
"Wait a minute." Mr. Nemman said. We turned back, but Mr. Nemman grabbed Mulder's shoulder and spun him around. I hissed as he caught some of my hip length black hair as well before pulling away and glaring at him with my icy blue gaze."Wait a minute, see, well I think you are. And if you're making an accusation, then you'd better have something to back it up."  
The girl got out of the car. "Daddy, please, let's just go home." She called, but her father motioned for her to wait. "Let's go home, please."  
Mr. Nemman glared at Mulder, then turned, got into his car, and drove away.  
"Guy obviously needed a longer vacation." Mulder said.  
"I'll second that." I said. We started back up the hill. When we reached the gravesite, the crane started scooping out the dirt on top of the coffin.  
Scully was reading from the file loudly because of all the noise the crane was making. "Ray Soames was the third victim. After graduating high school, he spent time in a state mental hospital treated for post-adolescent schizophrenia."  
"Soames actually confessed to the first two murders. He pleaded to be locked up but he couldn't produce any evidence that he committed the crimes. Did you happen to read the cause of death?" Mulder asked her.  
"Exposure. His body was found in the woods after escaping the hospital." Scully responded.  
"Missing for only seven hours in July. How does a twenty-year-old boy die of exposure on a warm summers night in Oregon, Doctor Scully?" Mulder asked increduously.  
"I got it." One of the workers called. Two men helped pull out the coffin, lifting it with a harness. Suddenly one of the straps broke and the coffin started rolling down the hill. "Look out!"  
As it the ground, people jumped, startled. Mulder, Scully, and I ran down to the coffin as it crashed against a tombstone, stopping it. The coffin had been broken open. Mulder went to open it, but Truitt grabbed his arm. "This isn't official procedure."  
"Really?" Mulder asked sarcastically. Mulder opened the coffin anyway and I look in to see a dessicated, mummified grayish body lying in the it was unclear exactly what this was, it was definitely not human. The arms were very long and the body was thin as well. The agents and workers gasped and cover their mouths, nauseous. Mulder stood and looked at Scully, who was kneeling. "It's probably a safe bet Ray Soames never made the varsity basketball team."He turned to Truitt."Seal this up, right now! Nobody sees or touches this. Nobody!"  
Truitt slammed the lid shut.

10:56 P.M.

Scully was dressed in her doctor's garb as Soames was laid out on the table. Mulder was taking pictures with a flashbulb while I watched. I looked up as Mulder spoke, " This is amazing, Scully. You know what this could mean? It's almost too big to even comprehend."  
"Subject is a hundred and fifty-six centimeters in length, weighing fifty-two pounds in extremis. Corpse is in advance stages of decay and desiccation. Distinguishing features include large ocular cavities, oblate cranium... indicates subject is not human. Could you point that flash away from me, please?" Scully stated.  
Mulder put the camera away. "If it's not human, what is it?"  
"It's mammalian. My guess is it's a chimpanzee or something from the ape family, possibly an orangutan." Scully replied. I stared at her in ?  
"Buried in the city cemetery in Ray Soames' grave? Try telling that to the good townsfolk or to Ray Soames' family. I want tissue samples and x-rays. I'd like blood type and toxicology and a full genetic work-up." Mulder said.  
"You're serious?" Scully asked. Of course.  
"What we can't do here, we'll order to go." Mulder responded.  
"You don't honestly believe this is some kind of an extraterrestrial? This is somebody's sick joke." Scully told us.  
"We can do those x-rays here, can't we? Is there any reason we can't do them right now? I'm not crazy, Scully. I have the same doubts you do." Mulder said. I nodded in agreement.

"Think we'll ever turn her around?" I asked Mulder as we walked to Scully's apartment. We were about to go on a run and he wanted to invite her.  
"Maybe. But that's not a goal you should pursue." He replied before knocking on her door.  
"Who is it?" Scully called from inside.  
"Steven Spielberg." Mulder answered as he leaned against the doorway. Scully opened the door with a smile. "I'm way too wired. We're going for a run, you want to come?"  
"Pass." Scully said.  
"You figure out what that little thing up Ray Soames' nose is yet?" Mulder asked.  
"No..." Scully yawned. "And I'm not losing any sleep over it. Good night." Then she closed the door.  
I followed Mulder out of the apartment and began jogging alongside him. After a couple minutes Mulder spoke up, "Penny for your thoughts?"  
I looked at him. The truth was my thoughts were all tangled up. "My emotions are probably just getting in the way."  
"Still. Tell me." Mulder stated.  
"Something's strange about one of the people we met today, but I'm not sure who. It's like they know something about what's going on, but they aren't telling anyone." I answered.  
We lapsed into silence and after a half hour headed back to the motel room.

The next day we headed to the Raymon County: State Psychiatric Hospital. Today I was wearing a dark longsleeved top, black skinny jeans, and my combat boots with a light jacket. We find ourselves walking outside the building with a Dr. Glass.  
"Ray Soames was a patient of mine, yes. I oversaw his treatment for just over a year for clinical schizophrenia. Ray had an inability to grasp reality. He seemed to suffer from some kind of post-traumatic stress." Dr. Glass told us.  
"Is that something you've seen before?" Mulder asked him.  
"I've treated similar cases." He replied.  
"Were any of those Ray Soames' classmates?" I asked not looking at her.  
"Yes."  
"We're trying to find a connection in these deaths. Did you treat any of these kids with hypnosis?" Mulder asked.  
"No, I did not." Dr. Glass replied.  
"Are you treating any of these kids now?" Scully asked.  
"Currently? Yes, I'm treating Billy Miles and Peggy O'Dell. Both have been long term live-in patients." Dr. Glass said as we stopped walking.  
"They're here at this hospital?" Scully inquired.  
"That's right, going on four years now."  
"Would it be possible for us to talk to them?" Scully questioned.  
"Well, you might find it difficult. Certainly, in Billy Miles'case." Dr. Glass said.  
We walked in silence to Billy Miles Miles was lying on his hospital bed very still. His eyes were open but there was no sign of life except for the pulse read-out on the monitor. We walked in. Peggy O'Dell was sitting in her wheelchair next to Billy. A nurse was changing the sheets on the adjacent bed.  
"Billy's experiencing what we call a waking coma. Functionally, his brainwaves are flat and he's persistent vegetative." Dr. Glass informed us.  
"How did it happen?" I asked.  
"Both he and Peggy were involved in an automobile accident out on State road." Dr. Glass said giving me an odd look. Right. Because I look to young to be a fed. Dr. Glass looked over to Peggy. "Peggy?"  
"...ariel.." Peggy stopped reading when he said her name.  
"Peggy, we have some visitors, would you like to talk with them for a moment?" Dr. Glass asked her.  
"Billy wants me to read now. "It's not sand, it's dark...' " She continued with the story.  
Mulder knelt in front of her. "Does he like it when you read to him?"  
"Yes. Billy needs me close." She replied.  
Mulder stood and walked back over to Dr. Glass. " Doctor. I'm wondering if we can do a cursory medical exam on Peggy."  
I jumped as Peggy threw th book down, tipped over the food tray, and started to wheel around.  
"Peggy? Oh, Peggy, what are you doing?" The nurse asked.  
"Get an orderly." Dr. Glass ordered.  
Some nurses came in and them and Doctor Glass went to Peggy who grabbed her nose and started screaming.)  
"No one is going to hurt you!" Mulder told her.  
Peggy moved her hand away from her nose and I saw it was covered with blood, as well as her face. She fell forward off the chair and onto the floor.  
"This is an emergency. Get an orderly, get an orderly. Nobody is going to hurt you. The nurse is here." Dr. Glass told Peggy.  
I watched Mulder as he took the opportunity to lift up the back of Peggy's shirt. She had the bumps. Mulder looked at Scully and I. Scully looked back in shock.  
"I'm ringing for the orderlies now." One of the nurses said.  
"Stop it! Stop!" Peggy cried  
"All right, Peggy. All right. It's all right." Dr. Glass said.  
"Peggy, honey, you're going to be fine. You've had these nose bleedings before, now calm down. Don't worry..." Another Nurse said.  
Scully walked out angrily. Mulder walked down the stairs quickly after her with me on his tail. "What's his name, er... Billy said he was sorry he didn't get to say goodbye."  
"How did you know that girl was going to have the marks?" Scully demanded. Great.  
"I don't know, lucky guess?" Mulder replied.  
"Damn it, Mulder, cut the crap. What is going on here? What do you know about those marks? What are they?" Scully asked angrily.  
"Why? So you can put it down in your little report? I don't think you're ready for what I think." Mulder said. We stopped walking.  
"I'm here to solve this case, Mulder, I want the truth." Scully said.  
"The truth? I think those kids have been abducted." Mulder said blatantly.  
"By who?" Scully asked. I shook my head.  
"By what." Mulder corrected.  
"You don't really believe that?" Scully asked disbelieveingly.  
"Do you have a better explanation?" Mulder asked her.  
"I'll buy that girl is suffering some kind of pronounced psychosis. Whether it's organic or the result of those marks, I can't say. But to say that they've been riding around in flying saucers, it's crazy, Mulder, there is nothing to support that." Scully said.  
"Nothing scientific, you mean." Mulder argued.  
"There has got to be an explaination. You've got four victims. All of them died in or near the woods. They found Karen Swenson's body in the forest in her pajamas, ten miles from her house. How did she get there? What were those kids doing out there in the forest?" Scully asked.

Later I followed Scully and Mulder as we walked through the forest, carrying flashlights. They both were no longer in suits, now they were wearing jackets and pants. Mulder signaled to Scully and we split up. Mulder looked at his compass, which was spinning wildly as I walked with him. I almost fell as a rumbling started and there was suddenly a bright light through the trees.  
I followed Mulder as we walked to where Scully was and saw her pointing a gun at some guy. Mulder pulled out his gun out as he walked up pushing me more behind him than I already was.  
"Get in your car and leave, all of you, or I'll have to arrest you. I don't care who you are." The man said.  
"Hold on! This is a crime scene." Mulder stated.  
"Did you hear what I said? You are on private property without legal permission. Now, I'm only going to say it one more time, get in your car and leave." The man replied.  
Mulder and Scully lowered their flashlights and weapons. Then all three of us walked out past the yellow tape and passed a truck with huge searchlights on it that created the light I had seen earlier. We got into the car and drove off.  
"What's he doing out here all by himself?" Mulder asked.  
"Maybe it has something to do with this." Scully said holding out a handful of dirt. Mulder turned on the carlight. "What do you think it is?"  
"I don't know. Is it a campfire?" Mulder asked.  
"It was all over the ground. I think something is going on out here, some kind of a sacrifice, maybe. What if these kids are involved in some kind of occult and that man knows something about it?" Scully spoke the theory softly. Mulder took out his compass and looked at it. It was acting very strangely. "I wanna come back here." Mulder looked at his watch, which read 9:03. He looked down at the compass again. "You okay, Mulder?"  
"Yeah, I'm just, er..." Mulder started looking up through the windshield.  
"What are you looking for?" Scully asked. There was a loud roar and a light engulfed us. Time seemed to stop just for a second. When the light faded, the car slowly came to a stop, having no power. Mulder tried to restart the car, but it wouldn't go. "What happened?"  
"We lost power, brakes, steering, everything." Mulder looked at his watch. "We lost nine minutes."  
Mulder got out of the car and screamed into the sky. Scully got out and I quickly followed. They screamed over the rain to each other as they talked. "We lost what?"  
"Nine minutes. I looked at my watch just before the flash and it was nine-o-three. It just turned nine-thirteen." Mulder started running down the road. I chased after him. "Look! Look!" We stopped at the pink "X" that Mulder marked in the road, only a few feet from the car. "Oh-ho, yes! Abductees... people who have made UFO sightings, they've reported unexplained time loss."  
"Come on." Scully said as I looked at Mulder.  
"Gone! Just like that." He said.  
"No, what a minute. You're saying that, that time disappeared. Time can't just disappear, it's, it's, it's a universal invariant!" Scully argued.  
The car started up and the headlights shine on us. Mulder smiled. "Not in this zipcode."  
He ran back over to the car. Scully looked down at the "X" and we followed.

Later that night as I was getting ready to go to bed there was a knock on the door. Mulder, carrying a candle, opened the door to see Scully standing in her bathrobe, shaken. "Hi."  
"I want you to look at something." Scully said.  
"Come on in." Mulder said.  
Scully walked in, turned around and slipped off her robe. She was wearing only a bra and underwear. She looked back at Mulder, then down to her lower back. I could see a few bumps. "What are they?" Mulder started to smile. "Mulder, what are they?"  
"Mosquito bites." He answered.  
"Are you sure?" Scully asked.  
"Yeah. I got eaten up a lot myself out there." Mulder replied. Scully gasped in relief, slipped her robe on and hugged Mulder for a long time. I raised my eyebrows. "You okay?"  
"Yes." Scully pulled away from the hug.  
"You're shaking." Mulder pointed out.  
"I need to sit down." Scully told us. She sat down and I took off my jacket and sat on the floor beside her. Mulder sat down in a seat across from her.  
"Take your time." He said.

Later, Scully was laying on the bed and Mulder sat in front of it on the floor. I was perched on a ledge by the window.  
"I was twelve when it happened. My sister was eight. She just disappeared out of her bed one night. Just gone, vanished. No note, no phone calls, no evidence of anything." Mulder told Scully and my head whipped around to stare at him.  
"You never found her." Scully said. It wasn't a question.  
"Tore the family apart. No one would talk about it. There were no facts to confirm, nothing to offer any hope." Mulder responded.  
"What did you do?" Scully asked.  
"Eventually, I went off to school in England, I came back, got recruited by the bureau. Seems I had a natural aptitude for applying behavioural models to criminal cases." Mulder told her. "My success allowed me a certain freedom to pursue my own interests. And that's when I came across the X-Files." He turned to face her.  
"By accident?" Scully asked.  
"At first, it looked like a garbage dump for UFO sightings, alien abduction reports, the kind of stuff that most people laugh at as being ridiculous. But I was fascinated. I read all the cases I could get my hands on, hundreds of them. I read everything I could about paranormal phenomenon, about the occult and..." Mulder sighed and drifted off into thought.  
"What?" Scully asked.  
"There's classified government information I've being trying to access, but someone has been blocking my attempts to get at it." He stated.  
"Who? I don't understand." Scully sat up a little.  
"Someone at a higher level of power. The only reason I've been allowed to continue with my work is because I've made connections in congress." Mulder said.  
"And they're afraid of what? That, that you'll leak this information?" Scully asked confused.  
"You're a part of that agenda, you know that." Mulder said looking at her.  
"I'm not a part of any agenda. You've got to trust me. I'm here just like you, to solve this." Scully said.  
Mulder moved closer, kneeling. "I'm telling you this, Scully, because you need to know, because of what you've seen. In my research, I've worked very closely with a man named Dr. Heitz Werber and he's taken me through deep regression hypnosis. I've been able to go into my own repressed memories to the night my sister disappeared. I can recall a bright light outside and a presence in the room. I was paralyzed, unable to respond to my sister's calls for help." How come I'd never heard about this before? Mulder moved even closer, talking louder. "Listen to me, Scully, this thing exists."  
"But how do you know..." Scully began but trailed off.  
"The government knows about it, and I got to know what they're protecting. Nothing else matters to me, and this is as close as I've ever gotten to it." Mulder said.  
Just then the phone rang, startling Scully and I. Mulder picked up. "Hello? What? Who is this? Who is thi..." "He hung up. "That was some woman... she just said Peggy O'Dell was dead."  
"The girl in the wheelchair?" I checked.

Mulder, Scully, and I pulled up. We climbed out and Mulder walked over to a deputy and the driver. "What happened?"  
"She ran right out in front of me." The truck driver said as I walked over to Scully.  
"Who are you?" The deputy asked.  
"She was running? On foot?" Mulder asked. The county coroner pulled up and I watched as Scully uncovered Peggy's face. Her neck was in a brace, and she was very bloody. There were tubes in her nose. Scully looked at Peggy's watch, which had stopped and read 9:03. Scully walked over to Mulder and the deputy with me following. "Well, that's just..."  
"We need to ask you a few quest..." Scully trailed off as Mulder interupted her.  
"Let's go, let's go." Mulder said grabbing my arm and pulling slightly before letting go. Scully and I looked at him and he lead us to the car. "Someone trashed the autopsy bay in the lab and they stole the body, we're going back to the motel."  
"What? They stole the corpse?" Scully asked as we climbed into the car.

We pulled up to the motel and Scully, Mulder, and I ducked out of the car and ran toward the building. Police and firemen were all around. Mulder ran over to a deputy and showed him his badge. I hurried up beside him. "F.B.I."  
We stopped and looked at the hotel, which was ablaze. "There goes my computer."  
"Damn it! The x-rays and pictures!" Mulder exclaimed.  
"And my mp3." I commented.  
Mulder closed his eyes, frustrated and angry. Theresa Nemman stepped out of the crowd and over to us. "My name is Theresa Nemman. You've got to protect me."  
"Come with us." Mulder said.

Scully sat next to Theresa in the booth we had chosen at a diner. Mulder and I sat across from them.  
"This is the way it happens, I don't know how I get out there. I'll just find myself out in the woods." Theresa told us.  
"How long has it been happening?" Mulder asked her.  
"Ever since the summer we graduated. It's happened to my friends too. That's why I need you to protect me. I'm scared I might... die like the others, like... Peggy did tonight." Theresa answered.  
"Your father's the medical examiner. You were the one on the phone, you told me Peggy O'Dell had been killed." Mulder concluded.  
Theresa nodded.  
"Theresa, your father knows about this, doesn't he? About what happened." I said.  
"Yes. But he said never to tell anyone about any of it." Theresa told me.  
"Why?" Mulder asked.  
"He wants to protect me. He thinks he can protect me, but I don't think he can." Theresa said anguished.  
"Do you have the marks, Theresa?" Mulder asked.  
"Yes. I'm going to die, aren't I? I'm gonna be next?" Theresa asked.  
"No, you're not going to die." Scully promised. Blood suddenly poured out of Theresa's left nostril. Scully ran over to the adjacent table and got some napkins. But before she could give them to Theresa, she noticed Nemman and someone else walk in.  
"Let's go home, Theresa. Theresa, come on." Mr. Nemman said as he pushed Mulder out of the way and sat down next to Theresa. He put a handkercheif to her nose. "Come on, honey."  
"I don't think she wants to leave." Mulder told him.  
"Come on..." Nemman looked at Mulder. "I don't care what you think! She's a sick girl."  
"Your father wants to take you home. He'll get you all cleaned up." The other man said to Theresa.  
"I'm going to take you where you'll be safe, Theresa. Detective Miles and I won't let anything happen to you, I promise." Nemman murmered.  
Mulder looked at Miles in shock. "You're Billy Miles' father?"  
"That's right. And you stay away from that boy." Miles snapped before following Nemman and Theresa out.  
Outside, Theresa looked at Mulder, Scully, and I from the back seat of Nemman's van. The windows rolled up and they drove away. Mulder, Scully, and I watched them go.  
"Eh, you gotta love this place. Everyday's like Halloween." Mulder commented.  
"They know Mulder. They know who's responsible for the murders." Scully said.  
"They know something." Mulder corrected.  
We started walking to the car.  
"Dr. Nemman's been hiding medical evidence from the beginning. He lied on the autopsy reports and now we find out about the detective. Who else would have reason to trash the lab and our rooms?" Scully asked.  
We stopped.  
"Why would they destroy evidence? What would they want with that corpse?" Mulder questioned.  
"I don't know, I..." Scully trailed off.  
"Makes you wonder what's in those other two graves." Mulder stated.

As the rain poured down, Mulder, Scully, and I carrying flashlights, walked into the cemetary to find that the other two graves had been unearthed and were empty.  
"They're both empty." Mulder said.  
"What is going on here?" Scully asked.  
"I think I know who did it. I think I know who killed Karen Swenson." Mulder said. Billy.  
"Who? The detective?" Scully asked.  
"The detective's son. Billy Miles." Mulder said. I was right.  
"The boy in the hospital? The vegetable?! Billy Miles, a boy who's been in a coma for the last four years, got out here and dug up these graves?" Scully asked skeptically.  
"Peggy O'Dell was bound to a wheelchair but she ran in front of that truck. Look, I'm not making this up, it all fits the profile of alien abduction." Mulder told her.  
"This fits a profile?" Scully asked.  
"Yes. Peggy O'Dell was killed at around nine-o-clock, that's right around the time we lost nine minutes on the highway, I think that something happened in that nine minutes. I think that time, as we know it, stopped. And something took control over it." Mulder stated. I watched Scully as she smiled, alnmost laughing. "You think I'm crazy."Scully nodded and Mulder walked away a little. Her face became grimmer. Mulder looked back at her and noticed that something was bothering her. "What?"  
"Peggy O'Dell's watch stopped a couple of minutes after nine. I made a note of it when I saw the body." Scully said.  
"That's the reason the kids come to the forest, because the forest controls them and summons them there. And, and, and the marks are from, from some kind of test that's being done on them. And, and that may be causing some kind of genetic mutation which would explain the body that we dug up." Mulder realized.  
"And the force summoned Theresa Nemman's body into the woods tonight." I added.  
"Yes, but it was Billy Miles who took her there, summoned by some alien impulse. That's it!" Mulder finished. Scully laughed, finding everything ludicrous but believing it. Mulder smiled."Come on, let's get out of here."  
"Where are we going?" Scully asked.  
"We're going to pay a visit to Billy Miles." Mulder told us. We started walking back.

Mulder and I talked to the nurse while Scully looked at Billy's fingers.  
"Now, we could stand here until the second coming, waiting for Billy to get out of this bed. It ain't going to happen. He blinks and I know about it." The Nurse told us as she started changing his IV.  
"I guess you changed his bedpan last night." Mulder stated.  
"Hmm, nobody else here's gonna do it." The nurse answered.  
"You noticed nothing unusual? Do you remember what you were doing last night around nine-o-clock?" Mulder asked.  
"Mmm, probably watching TV, yeah." She replied.  
" Do you rememeber what you were watching?" Mulder asked.  
"Um, let's see... you know I don't really remember what I watched." She answered confused.  
Scully went over to Billy's feet and lifted the covers up. "Miss?" The nurse asked. Scully started inspecting Miles' feet."What is she looking for?"  
"Mulder, River take a look at this." Scully called. Mulder and I looked at it and Scully opened up an evidence vial. She started scraping off some of the strange dirt into the vial.  
Mulder looked back at the nurse."Do you know who was taking care of Peggy O'Dell last night?"  
"Not me, it's not my ward. Not my aisle of the produce section." The nurse laughed. Mulder humored her by laughing slightly. "I do have a job of my own to do... what is she doing now?"  
Scully closed up the vial.  
"Thank you for your time, ma'am." Mulder said.  
"Okay." The nurse responded.  
"Good day." Mulder said before leading Scully and I out.  
Once outside the room, Scully walked rapidly, excited. "That kid may have killed Peggy O'Dell, I don't believe this."  
"Scully..." Mulder began, but was cut off by Scully.  
"It's crazy! He was in the woods."  
"You're sure?" Mulder asked and I looked at Scully questionly.  
Scully held up the vial in a baggie. "This is the same stuff that I took a handful of in the forest."  
"Okay, then maybe we should take it and run a lab test..." Mulder started.  
"We lost the original sample in the fire." I reminded him.  
"What else could it be?" Scully added. We stopped.  
"All right, but I just want you to understand what it is you're saying." Mulder replied.  
"You said it yourself." Scully stated.  
"Yeah, but you have to write it down in your report." Mulder told her. That was true.  
Scully calmed down. "You're right. We'll take another sample from the forest... and run a comparison before we do anything."

We pulled up to the forest and I could see Miles' van. Mulder shone his flashlight in the front seat. It was empty.  
"The detective's here. What do you think?" Scully asked.  
A woman's scream rang out. Mulder, Scully, and I started running through the forest. We split up, running through foliage, searching for the girl. Out of nowhere, Miles hit Scully on the head with the butt of his gun just as I burst through the brush. Scully fell and looked up at Miles.  
"You wouldn't listen to me. I told you to stay out of this." Miles said. He ran off as she struggled to get up. I tried to stop him, but let's face it. He was much stronger than I was. He shoved me into a large tree and I gasped as pain exploded in my head.  
I climbed to my feet and chased after him, catching up in time to hear Mulder's words. "There were screams.."  
"Down on the ground. Now!" Miles shouted as I came into view.  
"You know it's Billy. You've known it all along." Mulder said as I walked over to him.  
"I said down on the ground." Miles told us.  
Mulder kneeled, motioning for me to do the same. I complied as Mulder began speaking again. "How long are you gonna let it happen?" The woman screamed again. "He's gonna kill her!"  
Miles looked towards the screams, then ran off. I winced as I stood up quickly and Mulder and I followed.  
Miles pointed his shotgun and Mulder tackled him. A shot rang out. Mulder, Miles, and I watched on the ground as Billy took Theresa in his arms and looked up. I noticed the two welts on Billy's back and I was sure Mulder did too. The wind grew stronger and a light encompassed us. Mulder and Miles stood, looking at the light. The light and wind died down and there was a thunderclap.  
Billy stood there, Theresa on the ground. She looked at him and he looked at his father. "Dad?"  
"Billy. Oh, god." Miles and Billy hugged.  
The bumps were now gone. Mulder realized that his partner was missing. "Scully." Oh right. He picked up his flashlight and we started running. We met Scully halfway. "Scully!"  
"Mulder, what happened? There was a light." Scully asked.  
"It was incredible." Mulder replied.  
They both gasped for air, Mulder smiled slightly.  
"And, you, River. You left me without a second glance!" Scully yelled at me.  
I winced and clutched my head. "Well, I couldn't just let him get away. Quiet down. My head hurts. Yours probably does too."

Doctor Heitz Werber sat across from Billy. "If you can hear me, raise your right hand."  
Billy did so slowly and Doctor Werber continued. "Tell me about the light, Billy. When did you first see the light?"  
"In the forest. We were all in the forest having a party. All my friends. We were celebrating." Billy replied.  
"What were you celebrating?" Werber asked.  
"Graduation. And then the light came. It took me away to the testing place." Billy said.  
Mulder and I were off to the side, watching. Our reflection could be seen in the mirror.  
"They would tell me to gather the others so that they could do tests. They put something in my head... here." Billy continued.  
He put his hand on his head where his nasal cavity was. On the other side of the mirror, Scott Blevins, two other men and Scully were watching.  
"I would wait for their orders." Billy said.  
"Billy, who gave the orders?" Werber asked.  
"The light. They said it would be okay. No one would know. But the test didn't work. They wanted everything destroyed. They said they were leaving. I'm afraid. I'm afraid they're coming back." Billy started crying.  
One of the other men whispered in Blevins'  
"Don't be afraid Billy, we're gonna help." Werber told him.  
"All right, let's go." Blevins said.  
As they all started to file out, Mulder looked at the mirror directly at Scully. Scully looked at him, knowing that he couldn't see her, then left. I shouldn't be able to know that, I suddenlt thought, just like I shouldn't know a lot of things.

I watched Mulder as he called Scully. The phone rang for a moment before he spoke. "Scully? It's me, I haven't been able to sleep. I talked to the D.A.'s office in Raymon County, Oregon. There's no case file on Billy Miles. The paperwork we filed is gone. We need to talk, Scully."  
Mulder listened a moment and then put the phone down. "How's your head?" He asked.  
I was holding an ice pack to the back of it. "Painful."  
I settled down on the bed after he took the ice pack back to the freezer and closed my eyes drifting to sleep.


	2. Deep Throat

Chapter Two: Deep Throat

Mulder led me into a bar and over where Scully was sitting. Guess he trusted me.  
"Hi. I got your message." Scully greeted.  
"Sorry for the run around. Can I buy you a drink?" Mulder asked. I stared at him.  
"It's two-o-clock in the afternoon Agent Mulder." Scully pointed out.  
"It's not stopping the rest of these people. I got something to show you." Mulder answered.  
"Something you couldn't show me at work?" Scully asked.  
"Let's get a table." Mulder said leading Scully and I through the crowded bar. There were many people sitting at the bar, but one particular man seemed to be watching Mulder, Scully, and I. Scully was looking through a file, I looked over her shoulder there was a photo of a man. "That's Colonel Robert Budahas. That photo was taken last year when he was a test pilot for the military, stationed at Ellens Air Base in Southwest Idaho. Four months ago, Colonel Budahas experienced a psychotic episode and barricaded himself in his home. Military police were called in. Budahas was removed and apparently hospitalised with treatment of his condition."  
"Which was what, exactly?" I asked.  
"The military will not comment on the cause, nature or status. In fact, the military will not comment on Colonel Budahas at all." Mulder replied.  
"What do you mean?" Scully asked.  
"Mrs. Budahas has neither seen nor heard from her husband in over four months. Her inquiries to the military have gone unanswered. Last month, she contacted the FBI and reported it as a kidnapping." Mulder explained.  
"What reason would the military have to kidnap one of their own pilots?" Scully asked, confused.  
"That's the sixty-four thousand dollar question, Scully." Mulder passed Scully some new information, a thick pile of papers. "Since 1963, six pilots have been listed as missing in action, from Ellens Air Base. The military will say only that these pilots accepted the risks of flying experimental aircraft."  
"Yeah, there were rumours those pilots were shot down at high altitudes, while they were routinely penetrating Russian air space." Scully told him.  
"There were other rumours too. I've been tracking this case since it came through the Boise regional office last month. Last week, for reasons I can't figure out, it was deprioritised. They shelved this case without an investigation, Scully." Mulder said. Weird.  
"So?" Scully asked.  
"So, you, River, and I, are going to the spud state to investigate a little kidnapping." Mulder responded.  
"I don't get it Mulder. Does this have something to do with an X-File? I thought you only liked those, er, paranormal type cases. Am I missing something here?" Scully asked.  
"Let's just say, this case has a, distinct smell to it, a certain, paranormal bouquet. Excuse me." Mulder said before getting up and walking in the direction of the restroom.  
"So, how's your head?" Scully asked me.  
"Better." I answered not looking at her.  
"You don't like me do you?" Scully jumped straight to the point.  
"I don't know you enough to like you." I responded with a frown. Why did people always jump to the conclusion that I was anti-social?  
"Well, even so you don't even try to get to know me." She pointed out.  
"That's because you're my partner and I prefer to watch in order to learn." I replied finally looking at her.  
"How did you even get a job with the F.B.I.?" Scully asked.  
"I know things they don't. I'm smart for my age. I met the criteria required. Although they said I had to stick with my father through out everything." I told her.  
"Do you believe like he does?"  
"Yes." I answered without hesitation.  
"Why?"  
"Why not?"  
Just then Mulder came back out.  
"You ok Mulder?" Scully asked as we stood up.  
"Yeah, I'm fine." Mulder answered.

Mulder was in the kitchen, when the phone rang. "Hello." He answered as I came into the room.  
"Yeah." A moment passed.  
"Uh-huh." I walked over and put my ear to the phone exasperated. It was Scully.  
"You failed to tell me a few things." She said. I stared as I heard clicking noises coming from the phone, Mulder took the phone away from his ear. "This isn't some UFO goose chase, you're leading me on, is it?" Mulder and I listened into the phone again. "Are you there Mulder?"  
"Yeah." Mulder walked towards the window and looked through some of the blinds.  
"Did you hear what I said, because the bureau has it out for us already and it would make us appear pretty stupid if my field report, read like some tabloid story." Scully said.  
"Er, listen, I don't want to talk about it on this line. I'll, I'll talk to you about it, on the flight out, OK?" Mulder asked. Mulder hung up.

Mulder knocked on the door of the house belonging to Anita Budahas. An aircraft flew past and Mulder and Scully both turned around to try and see it. The door opened.  
"Hello?" Anita answered. Mulder and Scully turned back around to face Mrs. Budahas.  
"Mrs. Budahas?" Mulder checked.  
"Yes." She answered.  
Mulder took out his id and showed it to Mrs. Budahas. "We're from the FBI."  
"Oh, yes, please, come in." Anita said. Mulder, Scully, and I, entered the house, there was a picture of Lt. Col. Budahas hanging on the wall. "I started noticing it about two years ago, m, Bob developed this rash under his arms. We'd been doing some renovations on the house, so that, we thought it was a reaction to the paint stripper. But then everything just, went crazy."  
"How do you mean?" Scully asked.  
Mulder was looking at the photos of Lt. Col. Budahas as was I.  
"Bob's whole personality, it was so unpredictable. He started, doing things." Anita told us.  
"What kinds of things?" Mulder asked.  
"It was kind of embarassing at first, we were having this dinner party once, and, erm, he sprinkled tetra-meal D all other his food." Scully, looked confused obviously she doesn't know what tetra-meal D was. "That's fishfood flakes."  
"Did you ever talk to him about this?" I asked.  
"I tried, i, it was extemely difficult, Bob would get so angry, he'd, yell at the kids for no reason, and, and then, and then he would shake, like he was having a, a seizure."  
"Did he ever talk about his work?" Mulder asked her.  
"It was never discussed, e, even before the problems. Oh, I knew that he worked on top secret projects, word gets around, but, Bob was always a patriot first. He took, loyalty to his country as an oath, and, and now they treat us like strangers. I just want my husband back."  
"You know that the government is not above the law. They cannot withhold information." Scully informed her.  
"Th, then I think, what if he's..." Mrs. Budahas started to cry a little. "How would I support the family?"  
"Eeh, you said word gets around, I'm sorry, erm, have you ever heard of this, happening to anyone else?" Mulder asked.  
"Erm, yeah. Verla McLennen's husband, he went kinda crazy, but it's, it's not like he didn't get to come home." Anita answered.

"How long has he been..." Scully began.  
"Almost two years, the flyfishing idea was his brother Hank's. I was upset at first, but when you're the wife of a test pilot, you thank God just to have him home alive." Mrs. McLennen interjected.  
"Mrs. McLennen, has anyone ever offered to explain what caused this?" Mulder asked. He was talking about how her husband just kept making fishooks.  
"Stress, I guess. You have to understand, the military deals with things in a certain way. They've given him plenty of therapy, and treatment, and I'm grateful for that. They've taken good care of us. And you know they do volunteer for their jobs." Mrs. McLennen stood beside Mrs. Budahas. "Really Anita, bringing the F.B.I. to my house."

Back outside Mrs. Budahas' house, Mrs. Budahas gave a piece of paper to Scully. "Here, I've, erm, I've called all the numbers about a thousand times, please, let me know what you find out."  
"We'll be staying at the Beech Grove Motel if you need anything, ok?" Scully responded.  
"Thanks." Mrs. Budahas walked towards her house, while Mulder, Scully, and I walked away. "C'mon kids."  
"So what did you make of Uncle Fester down the block?" Mulder asked Scully.  
"Mmm, it's called sterioptathy, it's a syndrome produced by extreme stress. POWs have been known to suffer from it, they've studied it in zoo animals." Scully diagnosed.  
"Yeah, but these guys aren't zoo animals, they're test pilots. They're not supposed to fold under pressure, they're supposed to thrive on it." Mulder stated.  
Mulder, Scully, and I were standing beside the car now.  
"Ever hear of something called The Aurora Project?" Scully asked.  
Mulder took off his jacket and put it in the car. "Yeah, that's the, er, unacknowledged codename for some new kind of defence department, surveillance project."  
"The Pentagon has all but admitted, they've been testing a secret class of sub-orbital spy craft over the western US. Maybe, these guys are flying those planes. Maybe, these guys are the washouts." Scully suggested.  
"You saw the photos on the wall in there. This guy Budahas received a presidential commodation, he's never washed out of anything in his life." Mulder answered before getting in the car as I slid into the backseat, after a brief hesitation, Scully moved to the other side of the car.

Scully hung up the telephone as Mulder came in holding up his cellular phone and sat on the bed beside me.  
"I've been on hold with the base director of communications for fourty-five minutes, how about you?" He asked Scully.  
"Yeah, somebody named Colonel Kissel will meet with us, a week from Friday." Scully told him.  
"Yeah, right." Mulder lifted up a telephone directory. "Did you say Kissel?"

Mulder, Scully, and I were sitting in the car opposite the house in which another car just pulled into. We got out of the car and walked towards the man who just got out of his car.  
"Colonel Kissel?" Mulder asked.  
"Yes." Kissel stated.  
"Can I talk with you? Special Agent Mulder, FBI."  
"I've got nothing to say. Please, this is an invasion of my privacy." The Colonel told us.  
"Why don't you talk to us about Colonel Budahas?" Mulder pressed.  
"Why don't you get the hell out of my yard." Colonel Kissel said before entering his house and slamming the door.  
"Good thing we still kept that appointment." Scully said.  
I turned around when I heard a man greeting us and saw him walking up the driveway towards us. "Hi. Are you the FBI agents? I'm Paul Mossinger, I, er, work for the local paper. We live a few houses down from Verla McLennen, she said you guys are out here looking into this Budahas thing."  
"We're just looking around." Mulder said before turning to walk out of the drive. I quickly followed him and Scully.  
"Aah, gotcha, right. Lot of people around here just looking around, UFO nuts mostly, but it's not everyday we get FBI." Paul continued, walking after us. Another aircraft flew overhead and we all stopped to look. "By the time you hear them, they're already gone. So this Budahas thing, are you getting anywhere?"  
"We're not at liberty to comment." Mulder told him.  
"Well..." Paul trailed off.  
"Paul? Right? You've lived in this area a while, you ever seen a UFO?" Mulder asked.  
"Never, bunch of hoo-ey if you ask me. People see what they wanna see." Paul answered.  
"But, if I wanted to talk to those UFO nuts, that you refered to earlier, where would I go?" Mulder questioned.

Another aircraft flew overhead as we sat down in the Flying Saucer Diner, the glasses on the shelves of the diner all shook.  
"F-15 Eagle pulling about four g's. Those boys think they are such hotshots. Get a few drinks in `em, you'd think it was them up there flapping their wings." The bartender, Zoe, said.  
Mulder laughed. "Who's the photographer?"  
Mulder was refering to several photos attached to the shelves, photos of UFOs.  
"Various and sundry. I took the one on the end there." Zoe answered. The photo was of a large triangular shaped craft in the air.  
"You're kidding, where?" Mulder asked.  
"Out on the back porch, taking out the garbage, and there it was, just hovering." Zoe took  
the photo down and showed it to Mulder. "Quiet like a hummingbird. For a minute there, I thought it was gonna land in the parking lot and I was gonna have to serve `em lunch."  
Scully took the photo from Mulder and looked at it. "I'm selling limited edition prints, twenty dollars. Down to my last five, if you're interested."  
"Put it on my tab." Mulder said.  
Scully leaned over to Mulder. "Sucker."  
"What would the chances be, of someone like me, seeing a UFO?" Mulder asked.  
"Catch you outside." Scully told him before leaving.  
I watched the people in the diner as Mulder continued to talk to Zoe. They all looked relatively normal. A moment later he touched my shoulder and I jumped.  
"You okay?" He asked.  
"Yeah. You just startled me." I answered. I followed him outside.  
Scully was looking at a map outside the diner when Mulder and I came out. "Wanna see something weird, Mulder? Ellens Air Base isn't even on my US GS quadrant map."  
"I know. Let's go." Mulder said.  
"You know. Where are we going?" Scully asked.  
"We got our own map, sucker." Mulder told her. Mulder gave Scully the piece of paper with a roughly drawn map on it.

I looked at my watch as we drove. It was 6:04 p.m.  
Mulder, Scully, and I, drove off the main road and up a hill. At The bottom of the hill was a sign saying: WARNING: THIS AREA IS A RESTRICTED MILITARY INSTALLATION TO THE WEST. At the top of the sign was a symbol indicating no cameras.  
Mulder stopped the car further up the road beside a fence. He got out, went to the boot and got a pair of binoculars.  
"What do you honestly hope to see?" Scully asked.  
"I don't know, maybe nothing." Mulder responded. I smiled.  
"Is this why we came out here, Mulder? To look for UFOs." Scully demanded. Mulder was walking up a grassy embankment. "Yea, this is gonna look real good on my field report."  
Later at evening, Scully was sleeping in the car. Suddenly the car started shaking, Scully began to rouse and was shocked awake by the sound of the rear window shattering. She screamed. I looked at her as I got out of the car.  
Mulder came running down the embankment. "Scully, wake up. You've gotta see this."  
Mulder opened the car door and pulled Scully up the embankment while I walked ahead of them. Scully groaned.

When we got up the embankment I realized it was 9:13 p.m. I could see two small lights flying through the sky in the distance.  
"What are they?" Scully asked.  
"I don't know, just keep watching it's unbelievable." Mulder answered.  
"That's unreal. I've never seen anything like it." Scully said in wonderment.  
"They've been going at it like that for almost half an hour." Mulder told us.  
"Well, it can't be aircraft. Aircraft can't manoeuvre like that." Scully murmered.  
"What else could they be?" Mulder asked.  
"I don't know, lasers maybe. Being shot from the ground, reflecting up off the clouds." (The two lights flew up through the clouds and disappeared. Scully turned to face Mulder, her expression was one of amazement. "Oh my God."  
Another bright light appeared in the distance.  
"Here comes another one." Mulder said.  
"That's not a plane, that's a helicopter." Scully told us.  
I suddenly heard noises from the bottom of the embankment, I saw a guy and a girl coming through the fence and past a bush.  
"Hey." Mulder called.  
The young couple ran off, Mulder, Scully, and I chased after them across a field. Mulder drew his gun, the guy noticed it and both he and the girl stopped and raisedtheir hands. "Ok, don't shoot."  
"Stay right there." Mulder told them.  
"We didn't do anything." The girl all looked up at the helicopter as it's search light got closer to us.  
"Come on." Mulder said, putting his gun away. We all hid under the cover of a tree.  
"Heh, heh, That was extreme." The guy said.  
"Let's go, you're coming with us." Mulder told them.  
"What?" The guy asked.

5:02 a.m.  
Inside another diner, the two kids - who we now knew were Emil and Ladonna - were sitting eating away, while Mulder, Scully, and I were sitting on the other side of the table.  
"So, what exactly were you guys doing in there?" Scully asked.  
"We were, erm, we're..." Emil and Ladonna laughed.  
"We kinda have this spot." Ladonna told us.  
"You know, we go, we kinda, kick back and listen to some tunes and, er, watch the air show." Emil explained further.  
"Were you ever chased out before?" Mulder asked.  
"No, first time right. Our friend showed us a hole in the fence about a year ago." Emil answered.  
"Oh, one time they dropped these bombs, wooah!" Ladonna said.  
"Yeah, it was kinda heavy." Emil laughed. "Oh, ar, there's this place, ar, called the Yellow Base, right, where they're supposed to store all this stuff. And my friend said that, there's landmines all around it and junk like that."  
Emil was demontrating, with a hamburger, how the lights sometimes flew."Sometimes they come in real low, and just put on the scares right, it's like eeoou-ra and then they just hang there, and hover without making a sound. And you just think, you know, who turned down the volume right."  
"What do you think they are?" Mulder asked.  
"Ok, everybody thinks that they're like UFOs, but I think it's some kinda, star wars cyber- tech new fangled hardware right, they probably roll it out for, desert storm II or something like that. Cruise right over Saddam's house, you know, it'll be like, what." Emil answered with a laugh.  
Mulder pulled out the photo, of the UFO, he bought at the Flying Saucer diner."Do they look anything like this?"  
"No," Emil said and I saw Mulder's expression fall a little. "they look exactly like that."  
Mulder lifted Emil's mo-ped out of the trunk of his car and put in on the ground.  
"Thanks." Emil said.  
"Later Dude!" Mulder said.  
Emil laughed and he and Ladonna walked up a driveway pushing the mo-ped.

Mulder got back into the car and took a tape out of his shirt pocket."What's that?" Scully asked.  
"Evidence." Mulder put the tape in the stereo and the sound of heavy metal guitar music filled the car. Scully turned it off. "Kids today, huh."  
"You believe it all, don't you?" Scully asked.  
"Why wouldn't I?" Mulder asked.  
Scully had a great big smile across her face, almost laughing. "Mulder, did you see their eyes? If I were that stoned I..."  
"Ho-hoo. If you were that stoned, what?" Mulder interjected.  
"Mulder, you could have shown that kid a picture of a flying hamburger and he would have told you that's exactly what he saw." Scully replied.  
"Alright, I wanna show you something." Mulder reached into the back seat of the car and lifted a folder that was lying beside me, he opened it and took out a photo, which he gave to Scully. "This is a photo, of a UFO that reportedly crashed in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. Now I know, you don't believe that story but just hear me out. Now, Ellens Air Base, the same base that we're at right now, the same base, that for some strange reason, doesn't appear on your US government map, is supposedly, one of the six sites where parts from the wreckage were shipped."  
"Mulder, are you suggesting that the military is flying UFOs?" Scully asked astounded.  
"No, planes built, using UFO technology." Mulder corrected.  
Scully smiled again at Mulder's total belief in UFOs, which she does not believe at all. I rolled my eyes at her skepticism. Mulder gave Scully the photo from the diner.  
"Mulder, c'mon. You've got two blurry photos, one of them taken almost fifty years ago, and another one, you purchased today in a roadside diner. You're going out on a pretty big limb." Scully rationalized.  
"Tell me, there isn't a remarkable resemblance." Mulder dared.  
"Tell me, one good reason why either of these photos is authentic." Scully shot back.  
"You saw exactly what I saw in the sky tonight. What do you think they were?" Mulder asked.  
"Just because I can't explain it, doesn't mean I'm gonna believe they were UFOs." Scully told him.  
"Unidentified Flying Objects, I think that fits the description pretty well. Tell me I'm crazy." Mulder said.  
"Mulder, you're crazy." Scully said. Mulder chuckled. "And it still doesn't explain to me, what happened to Colonel Budahas."

I looked up as I saw Scully running towards Mulder's and my room and watched as Mulder got up and opened the door.  
"You didn't come to raid my mini-bar, did you?" Mulder asked.  
"You ready for this?" Scully asked.  
"What?" Mulder asked as I came to stand behind him.  
"We got a message from Mrs. Budahas, her husband came home last night." Scully replied.

We arrived at Mrs. Budahas's house and Mrs. Budahas opened the door.  
"We got your message." Scully told her. Mrs. Budahas was crying.  
"Mrs. Budahas, are you ok?" Mulder asked.  
"C,come inside." Anita told us.  
"What is it?" I asked as we walked.  
"What? What's wrong?" Mulder asked.  
We arrived in a room where a man who looked like Lt. Col. Robert Budahas, was painting a model of an airplane.  
"That, is not my husband." Anita cried.  
"Honey, who are these people?" Robert asked her. Mulder looked at the photo of Lt. Col. Budahas, on the wall.  
"That is not him. That is not my husband. They've done something to him." Anita continued.  
"What are you talking about?" Robert asked.  
"It's ok, it's ok, just relax, I'm Special Agent Mulder, from the FBI. We're out here investigating your disappearance Colonel Budahas. Wondering if you have any explanation of your whereabouts over the past four months." Mulder told him.  
"I was in the hospital." Robert said.  
"Here, on base?" Mulder asked.  
"I think so." Robert responded.  
"Colonel Budahas, do you mind if I ask you your birthdate?" Mulder asked.  
"November 21st, 1948." The Colonel answered.  
Mulder looked at Mrs. Budahas for confirmation, she nodded her head. "And the names of your kids?"  
"Josh and Lesley, they're right there."  
"Yeah." Anita confirmed.  
Mulder looked at the shirt Col. Budahas was wearing it said Green Bay. "Green Bay fan."  
"Yes sir."  
"Bet you remember the Superbowl of 68, huh? Don Shandler." Mulder asked. Where was he going with this?  
"Kicked four field goals, Lombardy's last game. Why do I have to answer these questions?"  
"It's not him." Anita insisted.  
"Colonel, Colonel Budahas, you're a, a pilot, isn't that right?" Mulder asked.  
"Yes sir."  
"Bet you've flown just about everything with two wings. I got this hotshot pilot friend, who said that he could do Immelmann at a sustained eight g's, huh, is that possible?" Mulder asked.  
"I, I don't... I can't... Anita, I can't remember." The Colonel said panicking slightly.  
Col. Budahas got up to go to Mrs. Budahas, but she backed away, scared and crying. "No."  
Mulder, Scully, and I left the house.

"Mulder, would you explain to me what's going on?" Scully asked as we began driving down the road.  
"I think they re-wired that man's brain. Some kind of selective memory drain." Mulder told her.  
"The brain doesn't work like that, Mulder. You can't just go in and erase certain files." Scully argued.  
"Then you explain it to me." Mulder told her.  
"There are types of amnesia th.."  
"This is not amnesia, I think it's something far more deliberate and insidious." Mulder interjected.  
"All I'm saying, is that the science or medical technology to do what you are suggesting, does not exist." Scully said.  
"And neither does the technology to fly the aircraft we saw last night. Listen to me Scully, they can do this. That man, he should have known the answer to the question, it just wasn't in his head anymore." Mulder tried to explain.  
"Even if they could, why would they do such a thing?" Scully asked.  
"To control information. I think that after his psychotic episode, Colonel Budahas became a security risk." Mulder responded.  
"It couldn't just be that he had a nervous breakdown with a concomitant memory lapse?" Scully demanded.  
"No, I think that men like Colonel Budahas are physiologically incapable of dealing with the stress of flying the aircraft we saw. Or doing those manoeuvres, at those speeds. I mean we're talking about a technology that is so sensitive and advanced, that it's taken almost fifty years to make it work. UFO technology, Scully." Mulder answered.  
Scully smiled again, but this time she also gave a little laugh. Ahead two cars were approaching fast, the two cars covered both sides of the road, one slightly infront of the other. "What the hell is th.."  
"Hold on." Mulder told us before he slammed on the brakes. The other two cars turned and stopped sideways, blocking the road infront and behind us. Groups of men wearing suits got out of both cars. One man approached Mulder's side of the car and knocked on the window.  
"Please, step out of the car." He said.  
"You think if maybe we ignore him, he'll go away?" Mulder asked. I chuckled.  
The man knocked on the window again. "Please, step out of the car."  
"Guess not." Mulder got out of the car. "Special Agent Mulder, FBI."  
As he reached for his I.d, another man pushed him up against the car and searched him.  
Scully got out of the car. "Federal Agents."  
Scully was also searched. The men yanked me out of the car by my arm. "Ow." I said at his hard grip. He shoved me against the car before he searched me. I watched as they checked the glove compartment and pulled out Mulder's file containing the photos from Roswell. The magazine in Mulder's gun was removed and the gun was put on top of the car. The same was done with Scully's gun. They took the two daggers I kept in my boots and put them on the hood. One of the men opened the trunk and got Mulder's camera, he opened it and pulled out the film, exposing it all to the light. Scully's briefcase was emptied of it's contents, as was my backpack.  
"You wanna tell me what this is about." Mulder asked. A man punched him in the ribs. I jumped up, pushed off of the man in front of me's stomach, and did a backwards somersault over the car, landing next to Mulder and grabbing the man's wrist before trying to twist it behind his back, only to be slapped by one of his buddies. I fell against the car and felt my lip. It was bleeding and there was a cut from the man's ring on my cheek.  
"National security. Now get in your car. You'll be escorted back to your motel. You will pack and leave town immediately, or assume the consequences of intense indiscretion." The man told us as I glared at him. They turned and walked off.  
Mulder turned to me. "Are you alright?"  
"Fine." I answered as I went around the car, grabbing my daggers and gathering my stuff. Scully bent down to help and when we were done we got into the car. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, not even bothering to wipe the blood away.

Back at our motel, Scully was walking around her room, talking on the phone. "Nothing under Idaho plate CC1356, no plate registered under that number. Thanks Gayle, no no no, I'm sure the other one's bogus too, bye." Mulder was lying on the bed as I wiped my face off in the bathroom.. "So who were those guys?"  
"I don't think it was those kids they were chasing away from the base last night, I think it was us. They knew we were coming before we ever arrived. And they returned Colonel Budahas as a decoy. There's something I didn't tell you, Scully." Mulder said as I walked out. I didn't bother putting anything on my cheek.  
"Something else?" Scully asked.  
"I was approached by a man in D.C. who warned me to stay away from this case, he didn't give me his name, and my phone was being tapped." Mulder informed us.  
"What!?" Scully exclaimed.  
"Why would they go to all this trouble? Out of a need for security. Security of what? I think there's a huge conspiracy here Scully. They've got a UFO here, I'm sure of it. And they'll do anything to keep it a secret, including sacrificing lives and minds of those pilots, because what if that secret got out?" Mulder asked.  
"If, if that were true, it would be a national scandal." Scully said.  
"No no, you're not thinking big enough, if it were true, it would be confirmation of the existence of extra terrestrial life." Mulder told her as I sat beside him.  
"Did you ever stop to think that what we saw was simply an experimental plane. Like the stealth bomber or, this Aurora Project. Doesn't the government have a right and a responsibility, to protect it's secrets?" Scully asked increduously.  
"Yes, but at what cost, when does the human cost become too high for the building of a better machine?" Mulder shot back.  
"Look, these are questions we have no business asking. Our kidnap victim is no longer outstanding. Let's get out of here Mulder, while you and your daughter still have jobs." Scully said.  
Mulder picked up the photo from the diner and held it in front of Scully. "Aren't you even curious?" Scully took the photo from Mulder and sat down) Um, I'm gonna shower, I'll pack and then, we'll get outta here."  
"What?" I asked. Was he serious? "We're leaving?"  
Mulder nodded and left the room, Scully looked pleased that Mulder was agreeing with her to leave. Scully got up and walked towards the bathroom, from outside I heard the sound of the car starting.  
I followed Scully as she ran outside. "Mulder, where are you going?"  
Mulder drove off. He left me with Scully? Ugh.

I looked at the clock as I paced by it. 6:30 A.M.  
Scully was talking on the phone in her room at the Beech Grove motel. "Yeah, I'm, I'm trying to make a call to Washington D.C. an, and I can't seem to get a long distance line. Hello? Hello?" Scully put the phone down beside her holstered gun and left the room. I plopped down on the bed and sighed. Mulder had been gone for quite awhile now. Seriously where was he?  
My head snapped up when Paul Mossinger walked in. "What are you doing here?" I asked.  
"I had something to show Agent Scully." He answered.  
"You're lying." The words were out of my mouth before I could think about it, but I realized they were true. He suddenly jumped on me causing us to both fall to the ground. He pulled out a switchblade as I kicked him. I leapt to my feet holding my head which had hit the ground pretty hard. I was too dizzy to make much progress to the door. Screaming was my best bet.  
Just as I opened my mouth Paul grabbed my legs and pulled, covering my mouth. I groaned as I felt a sharp stab on my shoulder followed by what felt like a needle. The world started spinning and the last thing I saw was Paul walking out of the room. After that everything went dark.

I knew when I was able to open my eyes, but I was afraid of what I'd see. I could feel the blood on the carpet, but I didn't feel pain. After a moment I forced my eyes open. Everything was blurry, but I tried to stand up agonizing pain flared in my arm. I whimpered as I forced myself to my feet. I managed to keep my balance for a moment, but when I tried to take a step forward I fell against the wall. My eyes started to slip closed. I forced them open again. That meant...something. What did that mean? Oh. That meant my situation was most likely critical. That was bad, I thought as I slid to the floor. Scully was a doctor though. I could hold on till she got back. If she got back. No, I shouldn't think like that. She was coming back. She was coming back with Mulder. That must be why she's gone right?  
That was when I noticed my eyes were closed and I was lying on the ground again. I tried to open my eyes again, but they wouldn't listen.  
"River?" That was Scully. I knew she'd come back. "River!"  
But why did she sound so worried?  
"Can you help her?" That was Mulder. I was right again. But he was worried as well. Why? After a moment I felt more pain flare in my shoulder and it felt like I was being turned over. I held on for a moment longer, but soon gave way to darkness.

I woke up in a hospital bed. There wasn't an I.V so they were probably just waiting for me to wake up. I could hear indistinct voices outside the room. Some new clothes of mine were on a seat by the bed so I got up and quickly pulled them on. There was a dark purple shirt, red hoodie, blue jeans and a pair of converse. When I was done getting dressed I sat down and waited for someone to come in. After about ten minutes had passed Mulder and Scully came in.  
"You're awake." Scully commented. I nodded. "How are you feeling?"  
"Fine." I responded. "I didn't disturb the bandage when I got dressed in case you were going to ask."  
"You gave us quite a scare." Scully said as they sat down on either side of me.  
"What happened?" Mulder asked.  
"Paul happened." I answered. "He attacked me. Said he was looking for Scully."


	3. Squeeze

Mulder, Scully, and I were standing in Usher's office.  
"So why didn't they ask me?" Mulder asked.  
"They're friends of mine from the academy, I'm sure they just felt more comfortable talking to me." Scully answered.  
"Why would I make them so uncomfortable?" Mulder asked.  
"It probably has to do with your reputation."  
"Reputation? I have a reputation?" Mulder asked.  
"Mulder, look. Colton plays by the book and you don't. They feel your methods, your theories are..." Scully trailed off.  
"Spooky? Do you think I'm spooky?" Mulder asked her.  
"Agent Scully's in here sir." Someone said.  
"Dana, sorry I'm late." A man said as he walked in.  
"We just got here. Er, Fox Mulder, Tom Colton. River Mulder, Tom Colton." Scully introduced.  
"So, Mulder, what do you think, does this look like the work of little green men?" Tom asked.  
"Grey." Mulder corrected.  
"Excuse me?" Tom asked.  
"Grey. You said green men, a Reticulan skin tone is actually grey, they're notorious for their extraction of terrestrial human livers. Due to iron depletion in the Reticulan galaxy." Mulder answered with a straight face.  
"You can't be serious."  
"Do you have any idea what liver and onions go for on Reticula? `scuse me." Mulder walked off to look around the office.  
Mulder looked down and I followed his bent down to pick up, using tweezers, what looked like a piece of metal thread.  
I walked over to Mulder and looked at the thread. Mulder looked up and I followed his gaze to see the cover to the ventialtion shaft.  
Mulder lifted up a small brush and dusted around the cover.  
"Err, that vent is six inches by about eighteen, even if a Reticulan could crawl through, it's screwed in place." Tom told him.  
Mulder had revealed an elongated fingerprint.

Mulder had several slides on a lightbox showing fingerprints."This is the print I took yesterday from Usher's office, these others are from an X-file. Ten murders, Baltimore area, undetermined points of entry, each victim had their liver removed. These prints were discovered at five of the ten crime scenes."  
"Ten murders, Colton never mentioned.." Scully added.  
"Most likely, he's not aware of them. These two prints were lifted five years before he was born at Powhatan Mill. And these three were lifted probably, five years before his mother was even born." Mulder corrected.  
"Are you saying, these prints are from the 1960's and the 1930's?" I asked.  
"And fingerprinting was just coming into it's own in 1903, but there was a murder involving an extracted liver." Mulder said.  
"Of course." Scully wheeled her chair away from the table and stood up.  
"Now that's five murders every thirty years. That makes two more to go this year." Mulder continued.  
"You're saying these are copy-cats." Scully stated. Couldn't she just open her mind? It would be easier on her.  
"What did we learn in our first day at the academy, Scully? Each fingerprint is unique, these are a perfect match." Mulder said.  
"Are you suggesting that I go before the Violent Crime Section and present a profile declaring that these murders were done by aliens?" Scully asked.  
"No, of course not, I find no evidence of alien involvement." Mulder stated.  
"Well, what then? That, that this is the work of a hundred year old serial killer who is capable of overpowering a healthy six foot two businessman?" Scully asked. Yes that's exactly what he's telling you.  
"And he should stick out in a crowd with ten inch fingers." Mulder added.  
"Look, bottom line, this is Colton's case." Scully chatisised.  
Mulder got up and stood beside Scully."Our X-file dates back to 1903, we had it first."  
"Mulder, they don't want you involved. They don't want to hear your theories. That's why Blevins has you hidden away down here." Scully said.  
"You're down here too. Look, why don't we agree to this, they'll have their investigation, we'll have ours and never the twain shall meet. Agreed?" Mulder asked.  
"Agreed." I said.

Later that night Mulder and I went to Scully's stakeout. I wasn't sure why, but he insisted I come along. I followed him as he began running. He jumped through a circular hole in a wall and I saw him put his hands up before saying, "You wouldn't shoot an unarmed man, would ya copper?"  
I walked over to him as he put his hands down. It was Scully.  
We followed her as she walked back to her car. "Mulder, River, what the hell are you two doing here?"  
"I don't know." I answered honestly.  
"He's not coming back here, his thrill is derived from the challenge of unseemingly impossible entry. He's already beaten this place, if you'd read the X-file on the case, you'd come to the same conclusion." Mulder told her.  
"Mulder, you guys are jeopardising my stakeout." Scully scolded.  
"Seeds?" Mulder held up a bag he was carrying. "You're wasting your time, I'm going home. Come on River."  
Mulder and I left. As Mulder and I were walking away I heard some noises, Mulder grabbed my hand and pulled me behind a pillar pulling me against his chest, but there didn't seem to be anyone here. He walked towards a caged off area of the car park and I could see movement inside a ventilation duct. Mulder ran back in the direction of Scully. I decided to stay put. It looked like someone was crawling around in there and for someone reason I felt as if there was evil here. I know that sounds dramatic, but there wasn't another word. That word hardly sufficed.  
Mulder and Scully came running over to the cage and Scully pointed her gun at the duct. "Federal Agent, I'm armed. Proceed down the vent, slowly."  
A foot kicked open the duct hatch and a man exited, he slowly stood up and turned around holding his hands up. Several agents came running to the scene. I clutched my stomach as the feeling from earlier became stronger and I began to feel naseous.  
"Take `im." Tom said.  
"Alright, move, move, move." One of the other agents said. I backed up against a pillar and closed my eyes. "Don't move, don't move, get your hands up, keep `em up."  
"You're under arrest. You have the right to remain silent.." Another agent spoke.  
"You were right." Mulder told Scully.

The man arrested was taking a polygraph test, the examiner was marking the parts of the printout that were the man's answers. I still felt a little naseous, but I was trying to make sure that Scully and Mulder didn't notice. They might insist I rest and that was certainly not going to be helpful now.  
"Is your full name, Eugene Victor Tooms?" The examiner asked.  
"Yes." Tooms answered. True.  
"Are you a resident of the state of Maryland?"  
"Yes." Tooms answered again. True again.  
"Are you an employee of the Baltimore Municipal Animal Control?"  
"Yes." True.  
"Is it your intent to lie to me about anything here, today?"  
"No." True.  
"Were you ever enrolled in college?"  
"Yes." True.  
"Were you ever enrolled in medical school?"  
"No." True.  
Mulder, Scully, Colton, Fuller and a guard were watching as well.  
"Have you ever removed a liver from a human being?"  
"No." Lie. But who would believe me? Especially if it doesn't show up on the test.  
"Have you ever killed a living creature?"  
"Yes." True.  
"Have you ever killed a human being?"  
"No." Lie.  
"Were you ever in George Usher's office?"  
"No." Lie.  
"Did you kill George Usher?"  
"No." Lie.  
"Are you over one hundred years old?"  
"That must be a control question." Colton murmered. No. We were serious when we put that on.  
"I had her ask it." Mulder told him. I would've smiled, but that wrong feeling wasn't even close to gone yet.  
"No." Lie.  
"Have you ever been to Powhatan Mill?"  
"Yes." True.  
"In 1933?"  
"No." Lie.  
"Are you afraid you might fail this test?"  
"Well, yes, because I didn't do anything." Half-lie.  
The test was over and now the examiner and the agents were discussing the results in the test room with me leaning against the wall listening.  
"He nailed it, A plus, as far as I'm concerned, the subject did not kill those two people." The examiner said. If only you knew.  
Mulder got up and checked the results himself. Fuller came in.  
"Maintenance people at the office building, confirm the call to animal control regarding a bad smell. They found a dead cat, in the ventilation ducts on the second floor." Fuller told us.  
"Well, that's that." Colton determined.  
"It still doesn't explain what he was doing there that late at night." Scully stated.  
"So, he's one of the few civil servants we have with initiative, and we busted him for it." Fuller said.  
"He was crawling up an air duct, by himself, without alerting security." I said from my position. Several of the agents jumped. Great. Do people make a habit to forget I'm in the room? Scully and Mulder were the only ones who didn't jump.  
"He passed the test, his story checks out, he's not the guy. It doesn't mean that your profile's incorrect, Dana." Colton said.  
River and Scully are right, it is the guy." Mulder spoke up.  
"Whatta you got, Mulder?" Colton asked. A little reluctantly.  
"He lied on questions eleven and thirteen, his electrodermal and cardiographic response nearly go off the chart." Mulder said. He lied on more than just those questions.  
"Is number eleven, the hundred year old question? Well, let me tell you, I had a reaction to that stupid question. And what the hell is this Powhatan Mill thing?" Colton asked.  
"Two murders with matching m.o's occurred in Powhatan Mill in 1933, just look at the chart." Mulder said.  
"My interpretation of those reactions.." The examiner started, but was interupted.  
"I don't need you or that machine, telling me if Tooms was alive in `33." Colton snapped.  
"He's the guy." Mulder repeated.  
"I'm letting him go." Fuller said. My stomach clenched and I had to fight to not double over.  
Fuller and the examiner left the room.  
Colton turned to Scully "You comin'?"  
"Tom, I wanna thank you for letting me put in some time with the VCS, but I am officially assigned to the X-files." Scully told him.  
"I'll see what I can do about that." Colton said.  
"Tom, I can look out for myself." Scully protested. I headed for the door.  
"You said Mulder was out there, that guy's insane. So is his daughter." Colton said before leaving, pushing right past me in the process. I winced as he hit my shoulder before turning to look at Mulder and Scully.  
Scully turned to look at Mulder.  
Mulder, Scully, and I left the room and were now walking through an office floor of the bureau.  
"You knew they wouldn't believe you, why did you push it?" Scully asked.  
"Maybe I thought you caught the right guy. And maybe I run into so many people, who are hostile, just because they can't open their minds to the possibilties, that sometimes the need to mess with their heads, outweighs the millstone of humiliation." Mulder answered. Well, that was true.  
We stopped at the bottom of some stairs when Scully spoke, "It seems like you were acting very territorial, I don't know, forget it."  
Scully went to turn away but Mulder stopped her, he was touching Scully's necklace. "Of course I was, in our investigations, you may not always agree with me but at least you respect the journey. And if you wanna continue working with them, I won't hold it against you."  
Mulder started up the stairs with me following and after a brief pause, Scully followed as well. "Er, I don't know, you must have something more than your polygraph interpretation to backup this bizarre theory and I have to see what it is."

Mulder was looking at the arrest record of Eugene Tooms on computer when I walked into the room from getting water.  
"These are Eugene Tooms' prints." Mulder isolated the left middle finger print and discarded the rest, for a fingerprint anaylsis. "This is the fingerprint they took from Usher's office,.." Mulder brought up one of the elongated fingerprints. "...it matches the old ones from the X-files. Obviously no match, but what if, somehow..." Mulder squashed Tooms' print sideways, then stretched it lengthways. Next he overlapped the two prints on screen, a readout showed a match of one hundred percent.  
"How could that be?" Scully asked. Did she learn?  
"Only thing I know for certain is, they let him go." Mulder told us. Yes they did. But even so the feeling in my stomach was only growing. It was almost painful now. I was surprised I hadn't become sick yet.

Mulder, Scully, and I entered the house of the latest victim.  
"Any sane theory, I'm sorry Dana but I only want qualified members of the investigating team at the crime scene." Colton said as we walked up.  
"What's the matter Colton, you worried I'm gonna solve your case?" Mulder asked.  
Mulder went to walk further into the house, but Colton stopped him.  
"Tom. We have authorized access to this crime scene. A report of you obstructing another officer's investigation might stick out on your personnel file." Scully told him.  
Tom let Mulder enter and I followed.  
Mulder was looking at a single elongated fingerprint that had been dusted on the front of the mantel when I walked up behind him.  
"The victim is a Thomas Werner, single, white.." Scully said.  
"It's Tooms." Mulder interjected before he pointed to the fingerprint, and I noticed four small prints, like the tips of fingers on top of the mantel. "And he took something."

Mulder was looking through a microfiche reader of a county census from 1903 - with me reading over his shoulder -, and found the name, Eugene Victor Tooms.  
Scully entered the room. "Baltimore PD checked out Tooms' apartment, it was a cover. No one has ever lived there and he hasn't shown up for work since he was arrested."  
"I found him. How do we learn about the present, we look to the past. I think this is where it all began in 1903 on Exeter Street." Mulder pointed to the address of Tooms on screen. "Now look at the address of that first murder in 1903."  
Scully lifted up the file on this case. "Apartment 203. He killed the guy above him."  
"Maybe, his neighbour played the victrola too loud." Mulder said.  
"Well, this must be Tooms' great grandfather." Scully concluded.  
"What about the prints?" Mulder asked.  
"Genetics might explain the patterns, it also might explain the sociopathic attitudes and behaviours. It begins with one family member, who raises an offspring, who raises the next child." Scully theorized.  
"So what is this, the Anti-Waltons?" Mulder asked sarcastically.  
"Well, what do you think?"  
"I think what we have to do is track Eugene Tooms, there's four down and one to go this year. If we don't get him right now, the next chance is in year..." Mulder trailed off.  
"2023." Scully finished.  
"And you're gonna be head of the bureau by then. So I think you have to go through the census, I'm gonna plough through this century's marriage, birth, death certificates, and... You have any dramamine on you by any chance cos, these things make me seasick." Mulder planned.

Mulder, Scully, and I went through the information for hours.  
"Anything?" Mulder asked.  
"Nope, he disappeared off the face of the earth. You?" Scully said.  
"Never was born, never married, never died." Mulder agreed.  
"At least in Baltimore County. No, I did find one thing though, it's the current address of the investigating officer at the Powhatan Mill murders in 1933." I supplied.

Sitting in front of Mulder and Scully was an old man in a wheelchair. We were at Lynne Acres Retirement Home. Baltimore,MD.  
"I've waited twenty-five years for you." Frank said.  
"Sir?" Scully questioned.  
"I called it quits, in 1968 after, fourty-five years as a cop. And those killings at Powhatan Mill. I was a sheriif then and, er, I'd seen my share of murders, bloody ones. But I could go home and, pitch a few baseballs to my kid and never give it a second thought, you gotta be able to do that. You'd go crazy, right. But those murders in Powhatan Mill, when I walked into that room, my heart, went cold, my hands, numbed. I could feel, IT." Frank told us and my head snapped up and I looked over from my position against the window.  
"Feel what, Frank?" Mulder asked.  
"When I first heard about the death camps in 1945, I remembered Powhatan Mill. When I see the kurds and the bosnians, that room is there, I tell ya. It's like all the horrible acts that humans are capable of, somehow, gave birth to some kind of, human monster. That's why I say I've been waiting for you. Aah, there's a box in the trunk here, get it for me, would you please?" Frank answered. That sounded about right. What else could be so evil?  
Mulder lifted a box out of the trunk and put it on the bed, Frank wheeled himself to it. "Now this, is all the evidence I've collected, officially and unofficially."  
"Unofficially?" Scully inquired.  
"I knew the murders in `63 were by the same, person as in `33. But by then, they had me on a desk, pushing papers and they wouldn't let me anywhere near the case." Frank explained.  
Scully lifted a jar out of the box and looked in it. "A piece of the removed liver?"  
I grimaced. That sure didn't help my stomach which had begun a dull ache.  
"Yes, but you know, that's not the only trophy he took with him. Family members reported small personal affects missing in each case. A hairbrush in the Walters murder, a coffee mug in the Taylor murder." Frank said.  
"Have you ever heard the name, Eugene Victor Tooms?" Mulder asked.  
"Humh, when they wouldn't bring me aboard in `63 I, I did some of my own work. I took, these surveillance pictures, this, is Tooms." Frank showed some photos to Mulder, Scully, and I. "Course, that was him thirty years ago." Frank took out another photo and showed it to Mulder. "And this, is the apartment where he lived. It was located at.."  
"66 Exeter Street?" Mulder asked.  
"Right. That's it, right there." Frank said.

Mulder pulled up to 66 Exeter Street in the car, we entered the building, it was a run down empty building.  
"Here's 103." I said and we entered the room.  
"The old man was right, you can feel it." Mulder said.  
"There's nothing here." Scully commented. Yeah. You would think that.  
"Check this out." Mulder pushed down a mattress that was standing against the wall. Behind it was a large hole in the wall. "What's down here?"  
"I don't know." Scully put her gun away and enetered the hole. "Let's find out." Scully climbed down a ladder, followed by Mulder and I. They shone their torches into the darkness as I pulled my flashlight out. "Just an old coal cellar." As we looked further in the cellar, we came across a table full of objects.  
"Somebody having a garage sale." Mulder picked up a small glass container. "This is the shape of Werner's mantel."  
"Frank said he collected trophies." I murmered as a dull ache blossomed in my stomach.  
"Does he live in here?" Mulder questioned.  
"It looks like the wall's deteriorating." Scully stated.  
"No, somebody made it." Mulder corrected. Mulder and Scully made their way to part of the room where a wall looked like it was crumbling. I trailed behind, fiddling with my cross necklace as I walked. My head snapped around in Mulder's direction when he spoke, "This is a nest, look, it's made out of rags and newspapers."  
"This looks like the opening, think there's anything inside?" Scully asked. Mulder felt the opening and got a slimy substance on his hand. "Oh my God, Mulder, it's smells like, I think it's bile."  
Ew. "Is there any way I can get it off my fingers quickly without betraying my cool exterior?" Mulder asked. Mulder quickly flicked the stuff of his fingers.  
"No one could live in this." Scully said. No kidding Sherlock!  
"I don't think it's where he lives, I think it's where he hibernates." Mulder told us. Maybe. That sort of makes sense.  
"Hibernates?" Scully asked.  
"Just listen, what if some genetic mutation could allow a man to awaken every thirty years." Mulder therorized.  
"Mulder." Scully scoffed.  
"And what if the five livers could provide him sustenance for that period. What if Tooms is some kind of, twentieth century, genetic mutant." Mulder continued.  
"In any case, he's not here now and he's gotta come back." Scully said.  
"Well we're gonna need a surveillance team." Mulder added.  
"Yeah, that'll take some fannagling." Scully muttered.  
"Well you go down town and see what you can fannagle, I'll keep watch." Mulder said.  
"What about me?" I asked.  
"You'll meet up with me at 7:25." He answered. I sighed.  
Mulder, Scully, and I got up and walked back towards the opening of the cellar. Scully stopped suddenly as I felt my stomach clench and I nearly cried out.  
"Oh, wait, I'm snagged on something, oh, it's ok, I got it." Scully said.  
I continued forward and we were soon back in the parking lot.

Mulder and I pulled up in the car at 7:25.  
"Where is everyone? Scully?" Mulder called as we climbed out of the car.  
Mulder had a quick look around and then ran and entered the building with me right behind him.  
Mulder lead me down into the cellar below Tooms' apartment. As he looked at the table with the trophies, from the murders, I saw and recognised Scully's necklace.  
"Dammit." Mulder exclaimed. We ran back out to the car and I watched as Mulder started repeatedly dialing on his phone as he drove. "Dammit, ANSWER."  
Mulder pulled up outside Scully's apartment block. We raced into the building.  
Mulder broke open Scully's door, and rushed in. "SCULLY!"  
As I came into the apartment I heard glass shatter. I followed Mulder into the bathroom where he pointed his gun at Tooms.  
Scully got up and grabbed Tooms before he could get out the window, but Tooms grabbed Scully by the throat and tried to choke her. As he did this, Mulder put handcuffs on one of Tooms' wrists. Tooms elbowed Mulder, knocking him to the ground, and started to advance on him. I ran forward and kicked him solidly in the stomach, forcing him back. My stomach erupted in agony when my foot connected with Tooms, but I tried to ignore it as I quickly spun aiming to hit Tooms in the head with my closed fist. He caught it and a whimper escaped as our skin came into direct contact and I would've fallen to the ground if Tooms hadn't grabbed my throat. The downside was my air supply was now cut off. Scully was catching her breath and it looked as if she had hit her head, but she grabbed the handcuffs as Mulder pushed him off of me, He pushed Mulder back onto the ground as I collapsed in a heap on the ground. stopping him from getting closer to Mulder and I and then pulled the handcuffs to the bath taps. Scully fed the handcuffs through the taps, Tooms tried to stop her, but Scully grabbed his other hand and fastened it in the other handcuff.  
Mulder got up and pointed his gun at Tooms, who was tugging at the handcuffs. "You alright?" Scully was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily. She managed a nod of the head. "River?"  
"I'm fine." I lied. My voice was strained. I wasn't fine at all with Tooms so close. It felt as though my body was submerged in acid.  
"He's not gonna get his quota this year." Mulder said.  
I watched as Tooms stopped pulling at the handcuffs and accepted defeat.

Mulder was watching Tooms from outside his cell when I walked over to him. It had been an hour and a half since I had touched, but the pain hadn't lightened up at all. Scully came walking around a corner and down the corridor. She looked through the window into Tooms' cell. He was licking paper.  
"Look at him, he's building another nest." Mulder commented.  
"You'll be interested to know that I've ordered some genetic tests. The preliminary medical exam revealed quite abnormal development in the muscular and skeletal systems, as well as a continually declining metabolic rate. It dips way below the levels registered in deep sleep. Did you hear what I said Mulder?" Scully asked.  
Tooms had stopped what he was doing and was now looking at Mulder watching him. After a moment Tooms, stopped looking at Mulder and continued with his nest.  
"All these people putting bars on their windows, spending good money on hi-tech security systems, trying to feel safe. I look at this guy and I think, "It ain't enough"." Mulder mused.  
Scully turned to Mulder and they both walked off down the corridor. I followed after another glance at Tooms.


	4. Conduit

Today I was wearing Black skinny jeans, my combat boots, a dark purple top, and a black hoody.  
Scully was pacing talking to Mulder, who was sitting at a desk. We still hadn't talked about what happened with Tooms. And I knew he had noticed. Thankfully the pain had stopped when I got some sleep and the weird naseous feeling was now completely gone.  
"It just doesn't seem, substantial enough to warrant an investigation." Scully said, snapping me out of my thoughts.  
"Ok Scully, so we disagree, it's not the first time and it won't be the last." Mulder said casually. Right.  
"Well, at least if we had a legitimate source, we could.."  
"This is the essence of science, you ask an impertinent question and you're on your way to a pertinent answer." Mulder interjected.  
"But what makes this case anymore credible, than..." Scully lifted a copy of National Comet off Mulder's desk and read another cover feature. "...the hundred year old mother with the lizard baby?"  
"Because, the lizard baby, wasn't born anywhere near Lake Okobogee." Mulder answered.  
"Oko-what?" Scully asked.  
"Bogee." Mulder got up and talked right into Scully's face. "Okobogee."  
"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Scully asked.  
Mulder turned off the lights. "If you know anything about trout fishing, or UFO hotspots."  
"Define hotspot."  
Mulder turned on a slide projector and I saw a UFO on a projection screen. "Four sightings in 1967, August, including one by a national weather service plane." Mulder clicked to a bigger picture of the UFO. "This is a light blasted, digitally enhanced enlargement."  
"The pilot took that photograph?" Scully asked.  
"Try a girl scout with an instamatic. Four of the nine girls in the troupe claim to have seen something, five if you include the den mother. The Air Force said it was a weather balloon caught in a wind sheer. But there wasn't a weather balloon launched that day within seven hundred miles." Mulder turned off the slide projector and got a file which he gave to Scully. "Now read me the names of those girl scouts from 1967."  
Mulder turned on an overhead projector and walked off out of sight.  
"Lisa Tyrell, Bonnie Winston, Dorreen McAllister, Darlene Mor..."  
"It's the same Darlene Morris." Mulder said as he came out from wherever he went.

Mulder pulled up to a house in the car in Sioux, IA, we got out and approached the house. Mulder knocked on the door.  
"Miss Darlene Morris?" Scully showed her I.D. "I'm Agent Scully and this is Agent Fox Mulder and Agent River Mulder, we talked with you on the phone last night."  
"Aren't you too young to be and Agent?" I shook my head. "Er, please come in." We entered the house. "Well I, knew that if I screamed, loud and long enough that, someone would listen. But I never expected the FBI. Er, this is Kevin. Kevin, say "hi"." Kevin was sitting at a table in the next room. "Would you like some coffee?"  
"Hmmm." Scully nodded. I shook my head.  
Darlene walked off to the kitchen, Scully walked towards the next room when she looked behind her at Mulder. Mulder was looking at some of the pictures on the mantel, pictures showing Ruby. Mulder touched a photo of Ruby as a young girl.  
Darlene, Scully, Mulder, and I all sat in the kitchen. "Somedays I can't even, get myself up out of bed. And, Kevin has been acting so strange, er, I don't know what to do anymore. I, I just, want her back again."  
"Miss Morris, during the divorce, was there a custody battle?" Scully asked.  
"Charles had nothing to do with this." Darlene sounded a little horrified.  
"How can you be so sure?" Scully questioned.  
"Because I know what happened. It's just like it was before." Darlene said certainly.  
"Summer of 1967, the girl scout troupe?" Mulder asked.  
"How did you know about that?" Darlene inquired.  
"Your name's on record at the center for UFO studies in Evanston, Illinois." Mulder responded.  
"Really?"  
"Yea, pilot for the national weather service made a similar sighting over the same area on the same day." Mulder added.  
"They took her didn't they Mr. Mulder?" Darlene asked.  
There was a long pause.  
"You, you said that erm, Kevin was there, the night it happened." Mulder stated.  
"He didn't see anything, he was asleep."  
"Do you think I might talk to him anyway?" Mulder asked. Darlene nodded her head. "Thanks."  
Mulder got up and walked away with me following.  
Kevin was sitting in front of a TV which was untuned to any channel.  
"Hey buddy! Mind if I sit down?" (Kevin shrugged his shoulders. "Thanks." Mulder sat on the end of a coffee table. "Your mom tells me you've been having nightmares."  
"I guess so." Kevin answered.  
"Wanna tell me about `em?" Mulder asked.  
"No."  
"Alright." Mulder looked at what Kevin was writing on a pad. "Whatta you doing?" Kevin turned round to look at Mulder and then turned back to his pad and continued writing. "Are you making something?" Kevin nodded his head. "Can I take a look at it?" (Kevin lifted his pad and passed it to Mulder. "Thanks."  
I couldn't see the pad, but somehow I knew there were a bunch of ones and zeroes written continously down on the page.  
Kevin pointed towards the tv. "It's coming from there."  
"The TV?" Mulder asked.  
Kevin stopped pointing at the tv and nodded his head.

A fax was being sent out on headed paper at the sheriff county department. The information on it reads:  
DATE: AUG 26  
FROM: FOX MULDER  
TO: DANIEL BERNSTEIN  
REPORTING TO: CRYPTOGRAPHY SECTION, F.B.I. WASH. D.C.  
Mulder was talking on a phone, Scully was in the Sheriff's office talking to the Sheriff.  
"I don't know what it is, maybe a binary sequence of some kind. Could be anything, could be nothing. I know you're busy, look erm, I know a friend who knows a friend who knows a friend who-oo can get you tickets to a Redskins game. You got it. Alright, you know where to find me? Thanks Danny." Mulder said as I sat down beside him.  
Inside the Sheriff's office, the Sheriff walks around to sit behind his desk.  
"So, as I was telling your partner, we found no evidence of kidnap, no phone call, no ransom note, and since we didn't turn up a body..." The sheriff trailed off.  
"You assume she ran away." Mulder finished.  
"Well, it wouldn't be the first time Ruby Morris ran away from home." The sheriff informed us.  
"Well, how do you explain what her mother saw?" Mulder asked.  
"Well I think that Darlene has a very active imagination. I've been listening to those stories since the first grade."  
"So basically you ignored her statement." Mulder summed up.  
"I included it in my report."  
"But you didn't bother to check it out." Mulder stated. Was he trying to upset the sheriff?  
"We went out to the camp sight, we didn't find anything. Let me tell you something, Darlene's little girl was no prom queen. I can't count the number of times I pulled her out of parked cars, or found her puking her guts out by the side of the road, it was just a matter of time before..." The sheriff trailed off again.  
"Before what?" Mulder asked.  
"Before something bad happened to her and if Darlene needs to make up crazy stories to get past that, fine. But don't tell me to treat it as the truth, I not gonna waste my time."

Mulder, Scully, and I left the building.  
"I just think it's a good idea not to antagonise local law enforcement." Scully was saying.  
"Who me? I'm Mr. Congeniality." Mulder said.  
"You never know, we might need his help one of these days." Scully told him.  
"I'll send him a bunt cake." Mulder said.  
As Mulder walked around the driver's side of their car, I noticed a piece of paper stuck under the window wiper. Mulder took it and opened it, I walked up behind him and read over his shoulder. It read `I'M ACROSS THE STREET FOLLOW ME'. Mulder handed the note to Scully, who after reading it looked around to see who left the note. There was a girl across the street, and when she saw that Mulder, Scully, and I had noticed her, she walked away. We followed her into a library.  
As We entered the library, we looked up each of the aisles until we found the girl standing at the end of one. As we approached, the girl moved into the next aisle and talked to us through the books. "You're looking for Ruby, right?"  
"That's right. Who are you?" Scully asked.  
"Doesn't matter." The girl answered. Well that was wrong. That was one of the most important things.  
"Are you a friend of Ruby's?" Scully continued.  
"Ruby didn't have friends, she just had people she liked to hang with."  
"And she liked to hang out with you?" I asked.  
"Guess we had some times."  
"Like the night she disappeared?" Mulder asked.  
"It was Greg, she was supposed to see him that night."  
"Who's Greg?" Mulder inquired.  
"Her boyfriend, Greg Randall. Supposed to meet up at the lake. Had stuff to talk about."  
"What kind of stuff?" Mulder questioned.  
"Greg got Ruby pregnant. I don't know, whatever, she got herself pregnant."  
"Do you know what they were planning to do about it?" Scully asked.  
"Gonna leave town, least that's what Ruby told me."  
"You know Greg from School?" Scully asked her.  
"Greg, school, I don't think so. All he ever did since we met him was pour beer, The Pennyslvania Pub."  
A woman knocked some books off a shelf, Mulder, Scully, and I turned to see what the noise was but when we turned back to talk to the girl, she was gone. We looked in the next aisle but she was gone.

The next place we headed was Pennsylvania the pub was alot of parked motorbikes, inside most people were wearing leather jackets. Mulder and Scully made their way across the floor to the bar.  
"I'm gonna go look around if that's alright?" I said to Mulder. "Put my skills to use."  
"Alright. We'll meet back at the hotel."  
I walked down the street looking at everything. I paid really good attention to things kind of like Sherlock. I gasped as someone suddenly grabbed me from behind. When I looked around I realized I'd gone further than I meant to. I was now in the middle of nowhere. The grip on my arms tightened till I whimpered.  
"This ones gonna be fun." The man holding me said as three other guy's came up in front of us.  
"Let me go." I said. The grip just tightened and one of the men slapped me.  
"You talk when we want you to." They sneered. "And if you tell daddy about what happens tonight we'll track you down."  
With that they threw me to the ground. I didn't even have time to move before they were kicking me. When I cried out they hoisted me off the ground and the same man as before was holding me again.  
He ran his sweaty palm up my side and I shook with fear and pain. After a moment they pulled out scalpels and needles and when they all got their turn to experiment they left me on the side of the road. My body was covered in dark blue and purple bruises. My lip was bleeding, along with my stomach where skin had been rubbed away. It was agony to move an inch and I was sobbing. After a while I managed to pull myself to my feet and began the walk back to the hotel. I kept falling and every time I did fall it took about twenty minutes before I could get back up, but eventually I got back to the hotel. I hid my face with my hair as I grabbed my bag and went into the bathroom to take a shower. When I was done I pulled on a light pink longsleeved top and a pair of black pants. I walked out and nearly fell onto the bed. Mulder got up and steadied me.  
"Why were you out so late?" He asked.  
"I doubled checked to see if I'd missed anything." I said, but I didn't sound believable at all. My voice kept breaking because I was trying not to cry.  
"River what happened?" Mulder asked as when he saw my face and neck. "Who did this to you?"  
"Can't tell." I murmered before suddenly jolting up and wrapping my arms around my father's neck. "It hurts." I rested my head against his chest and curled my legs up to my chest as I started sobbing.  
"What hurts?" He asked as he sat down on the bed and pulled me into his lap. I groaned as my very sore muscles moved again.  
"Everything." I whispered into his neck. I could feel seeping through the light top I wore.  
"Here. Lie down. I'm gonna get the first aid kit." He set me down and I obediently layed down, but didn't let go of his arm.  
"Don't leave me." I sobbed.  
"I'm not. I'm just going to the other side of the room for a moment." Mulder said gently prying my fingers off his shirt.  
I watched as he got the first aid kit and then came back over. He pulled out some wipes as I rested my head on my folded arm while my other arm lay beside my head.  
Mulder lifted my shirt and his expression became concerned and slightly angry. "Who did this to you?"  
"I don't know."  
He gently started wiping the blood off and I felt my body jerk when a sharp sting started. "Do you know why they beat you?"  
"That's not all they did." I whispered.  
"What do you mean? These are hand marks." Mulder said.  
"The skin was rubbed away. There were four of them." I said. "They hurt me. They laughed when I screamed." The tears were rolling down my face silently now.  
"River what exactly did they do to you?"  
"They did something to me. Don't know what." I whispered as I watched his reaction. His hand faltered and he met my gaze.  
"They won't hurt you again. I promise." He said as he began his ministrations again. We lapsed into silence. Every now and then my body would jerk or my fingers would twitch. I soon fell asleep.

I woke with a jolt as the door to our room was flung open. Mulder sat on the edge of the bed his shirt was off."Where did you get the document?" The man asked.  
"Well, if you explain to me what you're talking about, maybe I can help you out." Mulder said. The fourth man handed a sheet of paper to Mulder. "This is a document? Just looks like a bunch of ones and zeroes to me."  
"Tell me where you got it." The man demanded.  
"Tell me what it is." Mulder shot back.  
"Keep playing games Mulder, I'll haul your ass up in front of the D6. You can explain to them, what you're doing obstructing justice." The man turned to me. "Do you know where he got it?"  
I shook my head.  
Mulder gave the sheet of paper to Holtzman. That was he name I now knew. Somehow. "It's your call Holtzman. So unless they tell me otherwise, I'm not accountable to anybody outside my sub-committee. I don't care if it's the NSA or the Vatican Police."  
Mulder walked to a chair and lifted his shirt, which he put on.  
"It's a defence satellite transmission." Holtzman broke.  
"You're kidding." Mulder stated.  
"Just a fragment but highly classified, we need to know where it came from." Holtzman continued.  
"Well sure, I'll let you know as soon as I find out." Mulder told them.  
A ringing noise suddenly started and the fourth man lifted his cellular phone.  
"That's it Mulder, you just bought yourself a oneway back to Washington." Holtzman said. "You and your daughter."  
Mulder and Holtzman waited to find out the outcome of the call. I sat up and grabbed some new clothes from my bag and went into the bathroom before closing and locking the door. The clothes I chose was a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, Black longsleeved tanktop, combat boots, and a leather jacket that covered my throat.  
When I came back out the fourth man spoke, "We got it."  
The fourth man and Holtzman left the room.  
"Great." Mulder said as I sat beside him.  
Scully entered. "What?"  
"You shouldn't have told them. They have no jurisdiction." Mulder said.  
"Mulder, they're NSA." Scully said as Mulder put on his jacket. "They think the boy may be a threat to national security."  
"C'mon, how could an eight year old boy, who can bearly multiply, be a threat to national security? People call me paranoid." Mulder said disbelievingly.  
"Well how did Kevin obtain top secret information? And, where do you think he got it from?" Scully asked.  
Mulder walked past Scully and out of the room. I quickly followed ignoring the ache in my muscles.

We went to Darlene's house. We walked up to the front of the house, all the neighbours were gathered around the house to try and find out what's going on.  
"Watch your step, ma'm." One of the men escorting Darlene and Kevin out of the house said as they walked past Mulder, Scully, and I and to waiting cars.  
"It'll be ok baby, don't worry. It'll be ok." Darlene said to Kevin.  
"Come with me son." One agent took Darlene to one car while the other agent took Kevin to another car.  
"MOOOMMMM!" Kevin yelled.  
"Get in the car please." The agent said and Kevin was put into the back of a car.  
"It'll be alright baby." Darlene called to him.  
"Watch your head please."  
Darlene was put into the back of the other car. Mulder approached the car that Darlene was in and looked in the window. It was too dark to see inside, both cars drove off. Mulder, Scully, and I entered the house.  
A set of papers containing binary codes was lifted out of a drawer by Holtzman, who flicked through them before nodding his head.  
Mulder entered the room with me behind him and lifted up a broken piggy bank and put it on a dresser. "You guys do really delicate work."  
"Let's get this to cryptography." Holtzman gave the papers to the fourth man and walked past Mulder, then Scully and out of the room, followed by the other agents. "I think we got what we needed, thank you."  
Mulder pulled back the curtain and looked out the window.  
Noticing Mulder was looking at something in particular, I came over to the window. "What is it?"  
"I'm not sure." He answered.  
Mulder walked away and I quickly followed him as Scully went to the window. Mulder set a pair of ladders against the van and climbed up, Scully was watching him from the window. Mulder scraped and took a piece of the burned roof of the camper in his fingers, and crumpled it into ash. He smelled it before flicking it from his hands.

Mulder and Scully were talking to another agent at the FBI Regional Headquarters while I drifted in the background.  
"We scanned all seventy-seven pages through the mainframe in Washington." Leza said.  
"And none of the information is actionable?" Scully asked.  
"Other than the satellite transmission, nothing can be construed, in anyway, as a national security risk. As far as I know, the boy's being released this afternoon." Leza informed us.  
"So it's just a random set of ones and zeroes." Scully stated.  
"On the contrary, there was nothing random about it."  
"I don't understand."  
"All information can be rendered digitally," Agent Leza Atsumi sat down at her computer. "in a series of ones and zeroes. When we downloaded the data, we found an amazing range of..."Leza typed in a command on the computer, the screen showed a binary sequence and in the center of the screen was a message reading: CMMD: FILE. "Well see for yourself." A part of a picture came up.  
"Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man." I murmered. The screen reverted back to binary, Leza typed in another command and up came a rotating object. "A DNA double helix."  
"Oh, there's lots more." Leza typed in another command and up came a soundwave bar and as a line traveled across the bar, a piece of music played.  
"That's from the Brandenburg concertos." Scully said.  
"But they're just fragments, a few notes here, a few notes there. A line from the Koran, a Shakespearean sonnet..." Leza said.  
"Almost like someone's switching channels, huh." Mulder suggested.  
Mulder looked at Leza and then at Scully but no one had an answer.  
An agent escorted Darlene and Kevin out of Holding Area 107, and then let them go. Darlene walked passed Mulder, Scully, and I, ignoring us. I completely understand.  
"Mrs. Morris." Mulder called.  
"I have nothing to say to you." Darlene said.  
Mulder chased after Darlene, touching her arm. "Mrs. Morris, please give me a minute to explain."  
Darlene stopped and turned around, then she bent down and talked to Kevin. "Would you please just wait right over there for momma, I'll be right there." Kevin looked up at Mulder and then walked to where Darlene asked him to wait. Darlene stood up and faced Mulder, Scully, and I again. "I thought you were supposed to be here, to help us."  
"This has been a terrible mistake. And I assure you that the government will pay for all repairs and damages." Scully told her.  
"I don't want your money, I want my daughter back. And I want you to leave us alone." Darlene said.  
"But your son, has seen something." Mulder told her.  
"You stay away from me, and you stay away from my child." Darlene walked away, Kevin was staring up at the security monitors. "C'mon honey, it's ok, let's, let's go now."  
Suddenly I saw what was going to happen. A light was going to fall on Kevin. And it was large enough that it could kill him. I didn't know how I knew, but I was running as the light was falling. I grabbed him around the waist and twisted as I fell on the ground so he landed on my chest. I had already covered his eyes so glass pieces didn't hit them.  
"Are you alright?" I asked him as soon as everything was still again.  
"Yeah." He said. Darlene hurried over wth Mulder right behind her. She grabbed Kevin and they both left as Mulder helped me to my feet.  
"You okay?" He asked.  
"As okay as I was this morning." I responded.

"I thought we were headed back into town." I heard Scully ask from my spot in the backseat of the car. Mulder shook his head slightly. "Where are we going?"  
"The boy's the key Scully, I know it." Mulder answered.  
"The key to what?"  
"Finding Ruby. Just think about it for a minute, this is a boy who is receiving all kinds of digitised data from a television screen." Mulder replied.  
"Agent Atsumi said it was a statistical aberration."  
Mulder shook his head again. "No."  
"Ok, I admit it, it's not much of an explanation but it.."  
"I think that Kevin is a conduit, of some kind." Mulder interrupted.  
"A conduit?" Scully asked.  
"A link, or a connection, to whoever, or whatever, took Ruby that night." Mulder explained.  
"But how?"  
'If there was an abduction, it's likely that Kevin was touched in some way."  
There was a brief pause.  
"Mulder I know what you're thinking. I know why this is so important to you." Mulder looked at Scully. "I know. But there is no evidence indicating an abduction."  
"That's why we're going to Lake Okobogee."

Scully was looking at the campfire, the sound of seagulls could be heard in the background. Scully stood up and Mulder walked by.  
"According to the police photos, Ruby and Kevin were sleeping right here." Mulder said as he walked toward the waterfront.  
"Just a stones throw from the forest wall." Scully said.  
"Meaning what?" Mulder asked.  
"Meaning anybody could've come out of the forest to grab her." Scully said.  
"Have you noticed the tree line?" Mulder pointed up to the trees, the leaves had burnt away from the tops and only the thin trunk remained. "Evidence of extreme heat."  
"Or an electrical storm." Scully said. Mulder was looking through some shells on the waterfront. "Besides which, there's nothing to connect it to the night of Ruby's disappearance."  
Mulder lifted up a piece of glass.  
"That's true." Mulder was cleaning the sand off the glass. "Do you think a lightning strike could've caused this?" Mulder walked towards Scully with the piece of glass. "Do you have any idea at what temperature sand solidifies into glass?" He gave it to Scully, who rubbed the hardened sand on it. "Twenty-five hundred degrees fahrenheit. Something was out here Scully, something hot enough to turn sand into glass, that, singed those trees and to blister the roof of that camper."  
Mulder walked back towards the waterfront, and Scully looked around the area. As she was about to turn towards Mulder, she saw a white wolf. She quietly called to Mulder. "Mulder, look."  
Mulder walked up beside Scully. After a few moments, the wolf headed off into the forest, Mulder handed some papers to Scully and then followed the wolf. Mulder ran into the forest and I quickly followed. He stopped when he saw a pack of wolves crowding around a group of stones. Mulder took out his gun and fired a shot into the air, the wolves scattered off into the forest. Mulder advanced towards the stones, Scully came running to where we were. She stopped when she saw Mulder.  
"What is it?" I asked.  
"It's a grave. Shallow, by the smell of it." Mulder answered as he started removing the stones.  
"Mulder what are you doing?" Scully asked. Mulder continued to move the stones. "Mulder, you are disturbing a crime scene." Mulder was still moving the stones, Scully grabbed Mulder's arm. "Stop."  
Mulder turned to face Scully. "What if it's her? I need to know."

A police officer was sectioning off the area with police tape, the county coroner was at the grave and a man documenting the scene with photographs, as well as people from the hospital morgue. There were also several police officers around the area. Mulder and Scully stood watching with me behind them.  
"You ok Mulder?" Scully asked.  
"Fine." He answered.  
"Looks like a male caucasian." The Coroner said.  
The Sheriff was standing shaking his head.  
"Sir." The M. E. Worker handed the Sheriff the man's wallet.  
The Sheriff, while wearing surgical gloves, opened the wallet and took out the man's Id. "Victim's name was Greg Randall."  
"Ruby's boyfriend." I said.  
"Ruby had alot of boyfriends." The Sheriff told us.  
"Before you put that away, can I take a look at it?" Mulder asked.  
"Go right ahead."  
Mulder lifted a pair of gloves out of a case, put them on and took the wallet. He flicked through the wallet, there was alot of money in the back as well as a piece of paper that Mulder took out. On the paper was a note reading `DR. JACK FOWLER AUG. 7 - 2:30'. Mulder looked at Scully who had also seen the note.

An enlarged photocopy of the note came out of a photocopier, which Mulder lifted and brought over to a desk. He switched on a desklamp and placed the photocopy beside the note that Tessa left on the car. As Mulder, Scully, and I studied the pages, the Sheriif looked on. Mulder placed the original note on the photocopy so that the word FOLLOW sat beside the FO of Fowler.  
"Look at that, it's her, the girl from the library." Scully said.  
"Who?" The sheriff asked.  
"We didn't get her name but she claimed Greg and Ruby had run off together." Scully told him.  
"Well, Doc Fowler's a buddy o mine, delivered both my kids. I could find out who had that appointment."

Two police officers were escorting Tessa down a corridor in the police station. She was escorted into a room, a table and some chairs could be seen through the door.  
"Have a seat Tessa." Scully said. Tessa sat down and the door was shut. The letters on the door read `INTERROGATION ROOM'. Inside the room on the table, sat a tape recorder which was recording. Scully sat down opposite Tessa. "We know that you lied to us the other day. We know that you had the appointment with Doctor Fowler on August 7th. We know that you're the one that's pregnant, not Ruby."  
"Aah, don't know nothing do you?" Tessa sneered.  
"We can prove it Tessa, and we can prove that Greg, was the father." I told her from my position against the wall.  
"So what if he was the father?" Tessa asked.  
"This is very serious. Do you understand how serious this is?" Scully asked. Tessa just looked away. "Now you've waived the right to an attorney, so if you lie to us here today, you could be charged with perjury."  
"Promised me we'd be in L.A. by Christmas." Tessa said. The Sheriff was standing against the wall listening. "He had a friend there, I'd never seen the ocean."  
"You said that he and Ruby were seeing each other. You said that they were planning to meet at the lake, is that true?" Scully asked.  
"Look it, I was nowhere near the lake that night, ok." Tessa said.  
Mulder got up from his seat in the dark against the wall. "Sure you were Tessa." Mulder walked towards Tessa. "You knew they were meeting, so you sat there and you waited for them. You were angry and you were jealous."  
"I wasn't."  
"You sat there and you waited and when they showed, you killed him first, isn't that how it went?" Mulder continued.  
"No."  
"You snuck up from behind him and you shot him in the back," Mulder hit the desk with his hand, making me jump slightly. "BAAMMM." Mulder walked around the desk and stood beside Tessa. "And then you killed Ruby," Mulder hit the desk again. "BAAMMM." Mulder walked to the other side of Tessa. "What was she doing right before she died Tessa? Was she pleading for her life? Was she running away?"  
"I didn't kill her."  
Mulder walked back to the other side of Tessa again. "Where's she buried Tessa?"  
"I don't know."  
"You don't know where you buried her Tessa?" Mulder walked again to Tessa's other side.  
"I didn't kill her."  
"You didn't?" Mulder asked.  
"SHE WASN'T EVEN THERE THAT NIGHT!"  
Mulder crouched down beside Tessa. "Well how would you know that Tessa, if you weren't there yourself?"

Mulder and Scully were walking along a corridor in the police station with me behind them.  
"Mulder you're not seeing the whole picture here." Scully said.  
"Which is?" He asked.  
"Which is that all likelihood, Ruby is dead." Scully told him.  
"Is that your conclusion or the conclusion of the Sioux City Sheriff's Department?" Mulder asked her.  
"They're searching the national park and a rescue dive team is coming in from Des Moines to drag the lake." Scully replied.  
Mulder stopped and turned to face Scully. "They're wasting their time."  
"Do you really think Tessa Seers is telling the truth?" Scully asked.  
"Why not, what if Ruby never did show up that night?" Mulder asked.  
"She lied to us in the library, she lied to us about her pregnancy, what makes you think she wouldn't lie to us about killing Ruby?" Scully asked.  
"Because something was out there in those woods." Mulder answered.  
"We have a suspect in custody, we have a confession to one murder, and we have a statement which speaks to the intent to commit another. It's over Mulder. It's time to go home and turn this over to local law enforcement." Scully said.  
"I can't do that." Mulder walked off and left the station. Scully and I followed him. Scully was trying to stop him. I was trying to help him.  
"She's telling the truth." I commented.  
"How can you be so sure?" Scully asked.  
"I don't know how I know I just know she was telling the truth."  
"Mulder where are you going?" Scully asked when we caught up to him.  
"To talk to the boy."  
"Darlene won't even let you in the door." Scully said.  
"Well, I've gotta see him."  
"They don't wanna have anything to do with you...us." Scully stopped and called after Mulder and I. "Mulder stop. Stop running after your sister." Mulder stopped, and then turned around to face Scully again. "This won't bring her back."  
"Come with me or don't come with me but until they find a body, I'm not giving up on that girl." Mulder said.  
Mulder and I walked off again and Scully stood where she was for a moment and then followed.

Mulder knocked on the front door of Darlene's house. "Hello?" Mulder noticing the door was unlocked, entered the house. Scully and I were right behind him. "Mrs. Morris?"  
"Kevin?" Mulder noticed something on the floor and turned off the TV.  
On the floor were sheets of paper with binary sequences on them, they were placed in a square shape. Scully heard the kettle boiling and went into the kitchen. She walked back into the living room and looked at the papers. "Mulder." Mulder was sitting down staring at the papers. "What does it mean?"  
"I don't know."  
"I'm gonna check upstairs." I said. I went upstairs and glanced over the bannister, as I did she noticed something about the papers. "Oh."  
"What is it?" Mulder asked, looking up at me.  
"Just come up here." Mulder and Scully came up the stairs. "Look," Mulder looked at the papers and saw that the binary sequences made a face. "it's her, it's Ruby."

It was night time and we were driving to Lake Okobogee. Fun. I was sitting in the back trying to ignore the pain my body was in, but it was only getting worse.  
"This is a longshot Mulder, they could be anywhere." Scully scoffed.  
"You know when I was a kid, I had this ritual. I closed my eyes before I walked into my room, cause I thought that one day when I opened them my sister would be there. Just lying in bed, like nothing ever happened. You know I'm still walking into that room, everyday of my life." Mulder noticed something up ahead. "Scully. River." Scully and I looked to see what it was, it was Darlene's camper van. We pulled up behind it and got out of the car. We ran to the van. "DARLENE!"  
Mulder opened the door but there was no one inside.  
"Look, there's a trail ahead." I pointed out.  
Mulder, Scully, and I followed the trail, after a moment we heard Darlene's cries as if she had fallen. Mulder and Scully and I ran into the forest and found Darlene crawling along the trail.  
"Are you ok?" Mulder asked.  
"It's here, I saw it." Darlene said.  
"Where's Kevin?" Mulder asked.  
"I couldn't keep up with him."  
"Go ahead." Scully said.  
Mulder and I ran off while Scully stayed with Darlene. We ran into a clearing and saw Kevin in the distance, a bright orange light appeared in front of Kevin.  
"KEVIN!" Mulder called.  
Mulder stood watching Kevin as he walked towards the light, and then ran after him. I quickly followed. Kevin stopped as the light grew bigger, Mulder and I were still running to catch him. The light grew into multiple, smaller  
lights, and I saw that the lights belonged to motorbikes. As Kevin realized they were bikes, he covered his eyes and Mulder picked him up and jumped to the ground with him. I jumped and landed beside them on my feet. The bikes drove past Mulder and Kevin and I on all sides.  
When all the bikes were past, Mulder sat up and lifted Kevin off the ground. "You ok?"  
"She's back." Kevin said.  
"Kevin I'm sorry but, I don't..." Mulder trailed off.  
"She's here I know it."  
"Kevin I don't think she is. I know how much you want it to be her, I did too." Mulder told him.  
"MULDER!" Scully called. Guess I don't exist.  
Hearing Scully's screams, Mulder got up and ran with Kevin back to Scully. "SCULLY!"  
As Mulder, Kevin, and I found Scully and Darlene, I saw another girl lying on her back.  
"RUBY!" Kevin cried.  
"She's unconcious but she's still alive." Scully said.  
"I'll get help." Mulder said before running off.

Mulder, Scully, and I were walking down a corridor, Scully had Ruby's chart. "Nurse says she been awake for almost an hour."  
"Any ideas what caused the coma?" Mulder asked.  
I looked at the chart and answered him before Scully could. "There's no sign of head trauma, no narcotic traces or electralight abnormalities, but her white blood cell count was skyhigh."  
"By any chance was there attendant reduction in the lymphocyte population or a release of gluco-cordacoids?" Mulder asked as Scully stared at me.  
"You got all that from a glance?" She questioned as we stopped outside Ruby's room while Scully checked the chart. "Errmmm, actually both, how did you know that?"  
"They're symptoms of prolonged weightlessness. Shuttle astronauts have reported similar imbalances." Mulder answered.  
"Yes I got al that from a glance and more." I told Scully.  
Mulder looked through the window of the door and Scully knocked on it. Kevin opened the door. Ruby was lying in bed, awake.  
"Hi." Scully said as we entered the room. "Hi Ruby."  
"Who are you?" Ruby asked.  
"Ooh, we're with the FBI, I'm Special Agent Dana Scully and this is Fox Mulder and his daughter River." Scully introduced.  
"My mom said you might be coming by."  
"How are you feeling?" I asked.  
"Fine I guess."  
"Where were you Ruby? Can you tell us?" Mulder asked.  
"It's ok Ruby, he knows." Kevin told her.  
"Ah, I'm not supposed to tell. They told me not to say." Ruby said.  
"Who told you?" Mulder asked. Ruby was too afraid to say anything. "Ruby, who told you?"  
"Sweetheart, you don't have to say anything." Darlene was standing in the doorway.  
"You're right, we should wait until Ruby gets a little stronger." Scully agreed.  
"Can we speak outside for a moment?" Mulder and Scully joined Darlene outside Ruby's room. "I think that it's best that we put all of this, behind us. I mean, hasn't Ruby been through enough already?"  
I sat down in a chair against the wall as I listened to their conversation.  
"I know how dis-oriented she must seem right now, but in a couple of weeks, maybe even a few days, we could.." Mulder started.  
"I don't want her talking to you, or anyone."  
"She should be encouraged to tell her story, not to keep it inside, it's important that you let her." Mulder said.  
"Important to who? I have my daughter back, I don't want anymore trouble. Besides she can hardly remember anything."  
"But she will remember one day, one way or another, even if it's only in dreams. And when she does, she's gonna wanna talk about it, she's gonna need to talk about it." Mulder said.  
"Like I did? Listen to me, all of my life I have been ridiculed, for speaking my mind."  
"But it was the truth Darlene."  
"The truth has caused me nothing but heartache, I don't want the same thing for her."  
"It doesn't have to be that way for Ruby." Mulder insisted.  
"As far as I'm concerned, she spent the last month on the back of a Harley Davidson."  
"Is that what you're gonna tell Kevin?" Mulder asked.  
"I'm sorry."  
Darlene walked back into Ruby's room, Kevin was standing at the door. Mulder went to follow Darlene in but Scully put her hand on Mulder's shoulder to stop him. Darlene brought Kevin inside and after I left the room closed the door. Mulder stormed up the corridor.


	5. The Jersey Devil

Today I was wearing black skinny jeans, combat boots, a white longsleeved turtleneck with a grey buttoned vest over top.  
Mulder was sitting, staring at a magazine. Scully walked in the door and saw what Mulder was looking at, she paused and then put her case on a desk and walked beside Mulder. "Working hard Mulder?"  
Mulder turned the magazine around so that Scully could see it better. "This woman claims to have been taken aboard a spaceship and held in an anti-gravity chamber without food and water for three days."  
"Anti-gravity's right." Scully said and Mulder threw the magazine onto the desk. "Sorry to interrupt your serious investigation, but I just heard a story that'd just about take your knees out."  
"What's that?" Mulder asked.  
"They found a body in the New Jersey woods yesterday, missing it's right arm and shoulder. They think they may have been eaten off, by a human." Scully told us.  
"Where in New Jersey?" Mulder inquired.  
"Just outside Atlantic City."  
"Not an uncommon place to lose a body part. They think it's the mob?" Mulder questioned.  
"Mmma, it was a homeless man. There doesn't seem to be a motive."  
Mulder got up and got his coat. "You feeling lucky Scully?"  
"Relative to whom?" She asked. Mulder was looking in a drawer in his office. "It's not our case Mulder, the local police are handling it." Mulder pulled out a file. " An X-File?"  
"Ever hear of something called The Jersey Devil?" Mulder handed the file to Scully.  
"Yeah, it's a beast that's supposed to come out of the woods and attack cars, right. Kind of like an East Coast Bigfoot." I said.  
"Read the file about the case in 1947." Mulder told Scully.  
Mulder left the office, Scully closed the file and grabbed her case and followed after Mulder while I pulled on my leather jacket.  
"Save me the trouble." Scully said as we walked through the busy office.  
"1947, family watches dad get dragged off into the woods, cops find dad with a few appendages gnawed off. Cops corner a large naked man in the woods and gun `im down." Mulder said as we stopped at a desk. " Autopsy shows human flesh and bones in the man's large intestine. A beast man." Mulder spoke to someone behind the desk. "Requisition for a car please."  
"Is the autopsy report in here?" Scully asked.  
Mulder filled in a requsition form as he spoke. "No, the original disappeared from the Patterson PD's files a few years after the incident. But there is a statement from the attending pathologist."  
"Mulder it's the same story I've heard since I was a kid. It's a folk tale, a myth." Scully argued.  
"I heard the same story when I was a kid too, funny thing is, I believed it." Mulder handed the form back to the person behind the desk and was given a set of keys. "Thanks Doreen." Mulder turned to face Scully. "Fact is, we got a cannibalised body in New Jersey, someone or something out there is hungry."  
Mulder and I walked off.

Mulder, Scully, and I were in the morgue looking at the body of the victim. The coroner was there holding up the sheet which covered the body.  
"Er, they say animals can develop an appetite for human flesh but, this is no animal. You see the teeth marks, just below the clavicle, they're human." Glenna, the coroner, walked off and removed her surgical gloves.  
"Who found the body?" Mulder asked.  
"Park Ranger."  
Scully was examing the body while Mulder walked to the feet of the body.  
"Was he alive when it happened?" Scully asked.  
"Well, it's hard to tell."  
Mulder looked at the toe-tag, it reads:  
CORONER'S DEPARTMENT  
NAME CROCKETT ROGER CASE NO. 2272 DATE AUG 29 / 93 WHERE TAKEN FROM: N.J. STATE PARK  
"There's a scull fracture but no sign of a struggle, his blood alcohol level was up, probably never knew what hit him." I muttered and they all stared at me. "I saw the reports on the way in."  
"Any ideas about that?" Mulder asked.  
"The size of that bite mark, I'd say...large adult male." I responded.  
"I'll do my best." A man said.  
"Er, Detective Thompson is handling the case." The coroner told us.  
"Glenna?" Thompson asked.  
Scully showed her Id to the detective. "Hi, I'm Special Agent Dana Scully and these are Agents River and Fox Mulder."  
"I don't remember anybody calling the, FBI in on this." Thompson said.  
"Well we're not here on an official capacity, Agent Scully's a medical doctor, we heard about your victim and, she thought she might take a look." Mulder said.  
"I'm sorry, I'm gonna ask you to leave. We have an investigation." Thompson said taking a step forward. I flinched and took a step back towards Mulder.  
"For God's sakes Tommy, this is no time to get pissy." Glenna scolded.  
"We have jurisdiction here."  
"Any suspects yet Detective?" Mulder asked.  
"I don't work for you sir, and unless you hear different from the Attorney General, er, this case is a local matter." The Detective said, taking another step closer. It suddenly felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. What was wrong with me?  
"Agent Mulder, we should go." Scully said.  
"There's no need to get bent outta shape." Mulder stated.  
"On the contrary, I think I've been exceedingly polite." Thompson said.  
Mulder and the detective stood there staring at each other for a few moments, and then Mulder left and I had to fight not to run as I followed him.  
Mulder, Scully, and I walked along a street until we reached the car.  
"So what's eating that guy?" Mulder asked.  
"He was perfectly in his rights. The FBI has no overriding jurisdiction in a murder case. Anyway, you'd feel the same way if someone was horning in on your work." Scully said.  
"Yeah, chances are he's without a clue. He'll probably be scratching his head when they bring the next body in." Mulder said.  
"You missed your opening Mulder, you could've really humiliated him and er, told him who the perpetrator was, The Jersey Devil." Scully joked.  
Mulder laughed and stood beside the car and talked to Scully, who was standing on the other side of the car. "Hey whatta you say, we grab a hotel, take in a floor show, drop a few quarters in the slot, do a little digging on this case."  
"You're kidding right?" Scully asked.  
"Ok, we can skip the floor show." Mulder said.  
"Mulder I have to be back in D.C." Scully said.  
"What you gotta date?" Mulder questioned.  
"No, I have my godson's birthday party at 6:30." She answered. Mulder threw the car keys across the top of the car, Scully caught them. "What are you doing?"  
"A little poking around, maybe make a weekend out of it." Mulder walked off with me behind him.  
"Mulder, it's a three hour drive back by myself..." Mulder waved to Scully. "...in Friday night traffic, ooowh."  
"So what happened back there?" Mulder asked me.  
I shook my head still trying to breath properly.  
"I don't know." I breathed out. "But all of a sudden I couldn't breath."  
"Did it start when Thompson got closer to us?" Mulder asked.I nodded. "Could be you subconsciously recognize a resemblance to one of the guys who hurt you."  
"It's a theory." I agreed.  
"Wait here." He said before going into a Casino.  
After a few moments he came out and I had got my breath back.

Mulder, a Park Ranger, and I got out of the ranger's pick-up truck and walked a couple of feet away from it.  
"Found the body just over there, lying face down in the rocks. Thirty-two years with the park service, I've come across some weird stuff but I tell you, never anything like this." The ranger told us.  
"Victim was a homeless man, you get many of them wandering around out here?" Mulder asked.  
"Well, occasionally ar, see some but, most are scared of the woods."  
"Scared? Of what?" Mulder inquired.  
"I don't know, the devil."  
"People say that's just a myth." Mulder stated.  
"Depends on who you talk to."  
"What do you think?" Mulder questioned.  
"Well like I said, now thirty-two years, I see alot of weird stuff. Like one time, a little over four years ago, I saw what I thought was a, large man come out of a, copse of birch trees, not, not a stitch of clothing. And he was about, sixty yards away, and he starts, sniffing the air, you know like a dog. And then he looks straight at me, and I swear he smelled me because he took off into the woods so fast, you'd swear it wasn't human."  
"Really. You never saw him again?" Mulder asked.  
"No, but I feel him. And, I found things, some scat, half buried like a cat's only more human. Found a half eaten rabbit with what looked like a human cuspid tooth in it. And some deer bones, looked like they'd been sharpened into tools." As the ranger spoke I began to feel a familiar queasiness in my stomach. It was like with Tooms.  
"You think it might be what's responsible for the body you found?" Mulder questioned further.  
The feeling got stronger until it was a dull ache. This was much faster than before.  
The ranger laughed slightly. "I got a pension coming up in a few years, you know, you say the wrong thing."  
"Yeah." Mulder agreed.  
"Er, I'll tell you one thing, I don't ever come out here without my weapon anymore."  
"How far is it into town from here?" Mulder asked.  
"`Bout a mile, mile and a half." The ranger answered.  
"I'm staying at the Galaxy Gateway for the next couple of days, if you think of anything, will you call me?" Mulder inquired.  
"Sure."  
Mulder and I walked off down a path in the woods.  
After half an hour I felt like I was gonna fall over. "Dad I need to rest."  
"We've done further than this before." Mulder protested, but came over and sat down with me. "Do you wanna talk about it?"  
"Remember Tooms?" I asked.  
"Yeah."  
"Well when we were dealing with him I could tell when he was lying and I could feel how evil he was. It started as a naseous feeling, then it was a dull ache, and eventually it felt like someone was stabbing me. But when I touched Tooms it felt like I was submerged in acid." I told him.  
"That's what it feels like now?" He asked.  
"Yes. But the process is faster this time." I confirmed.  
"Ready to go?" He asked. I nodded. Couldn't stay out here all night. "Is there anything else you want to talk about? It might take your mind off of it."  
I shook my head and Mulder and I continued walking along the path. I got the feeling we were being watched, but decided I was just paranoid.

At 6:47 Mulder and I walked along a street filled with homeless people living in cardboard boxes. The street was littered with boxes and cars stripped of anything valuable.  
"Did anybody here know Roger Crockett?" No one acknowledged Mulder's request. "He was murdered two days ago." Mulder tried to talk to a woman as she went past but she just ignored him. "Ma'am, can I.."  
"Hey honey, have you got any change to spare?" One of the woman asked me. I shook my head. I actually didn't have any money on me at the moment.  
"Roger Crockett? Anybody?" Mulder asked again.  
A man got up and walked towards Mulder and I. "What d'you wanna know?"  
"Did you know Roger Crockett?" Mulder asked. The man nodded his head. "Did you hear how he died?"  
"Yeah."  
"Any ideas who might've done it?" Mulder requested.  
"You cops?"  
"No, we're FBI." Mulder answered and the man gave me a strange look.  
"Yes I really am a federal agent." I sad before he could ask. He gave a slight nod of his head.  
"I'll show you something." The man said.  
"Ok." Mulder said.  
The man lead Mulder and I through a door and into an alleyway. "I need some money."  
Mulder took some money out ot his wallet and gave it to the man. The man rummaged in a black bag, in amongst a sheltered area, and pulled out a piece of paper from a small plastic bag. He unfolded it and showed it to Mulder. It looked like a man, but more like a beastly kind of man. Just looking at a picture made me have to clutch my stomach as fire blazed.  
"What is this?" Mulder asked.  
"Stuck in the pocket of a jacket I found."  
"Does it mean anything to you?" Mulder asked.  
"I've seen it."  
"Where?"  
"Right here, digging in the trash.."  
"Here? Are you hustling me?" Mulder asked.  
"Swear to God."  
"Who do you think it is?" Mulder continued.  
"I don't know, scared the hell out of me."  
"Has anybody else seen it?" Mulder asked.  
"Oh yeah, everybody's pretty freaked."  
"Anybody told the cops?" Mulder inquired.  
"You think they don't know."  
"Where're you sleeping tonight?" Mulder requested.  
"You're standing in my bedroom."  
"You know the er, The Galaxy Gateway?" Mulder gave Jack his room key. "Room 756. Go ahead."  
"Hey, they got HBO?" The man called after us as we started to walk away.  
Mulder laughed. "Yeah, they do."

It was night time when I woke from a brief nap, Mulder and I were sitting in that man's bedroom with blankets wrapped round us. Oh right we gave that guy our room so we could investigate. I sat up and pulled the blanket tighter around me. As Mulder tried to go to sleep we heard a noise, at first glance I couldn't see anything, but Mulder got up and  
quietly looked around as I got to my feet leaving the blanket on the ground.  
There was a figure at the end of the alleyway searching in the trash. Mulder slowly advanced to get a better look at the figure. Suddenly the figure started sniffing the air, but soon continued to  
resume searching in the trash. The figure then climbed over a fence and out of sight. Mulder and I ran and jumped up the fence and saw the figure running along a catwalk.  
Mulder then rushed out of the alleyway and into the street to see if he could see where the figure was going, as it ran along the roof of a building. I heard Mulder whistle at it. I leapt off the fence and doubled over as a burning started in my stomach. Suddenly I could see what it saw. I stopped and looked over the edge of the building at Mulder. A police car and police van approached from behind Mulder and I moved on. The headlights from the police car shone into Mulder eyes, the vehicles came to a stop and a police officer got out of the car. And I was myself again. I hurried to catch up to Mulder.  
"Sir." The police officer started. "Ma'am."  
Mulder pointed up to the roof. "You got a man up on that roof."  
"Nothing to be afraid of, we're gonna give you a warm place to sleep it off." The police officer grabbed Mulder by the arm but Mulder shook it off.  
"Hey back off." Mulder snapped.  
"Alright, calm down."  
"I'm telling you, there's a man up on that roof." Mulder persisted.  
"He's telling the truth." I said.  
"Get in the car, now."

Mulder and I were sitting in a small white room, empty except for a table and some chairs.  
Through a window in the door, Detective Thompson peered through before entering. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"  
"Enjoying the night life here in beautiful Atlantic City." Mulder answered.  
"I'll go right to the D.A.'s office if I have to, obstructing an investigation, misconduct."  
"That's good, let's go see her together, and while we're at it, why don't we add withholding evidence to the list." Mulder quipped.  
"Whatta you talking about?" The detective asked, stepping forward.  
"Statements given to you describing something stalking the back streets of Atlantic City." Mulder answered.  
"This is the fishing trip they get me up at three-o-clock in the morning for? Unbelievable." The detective said getting even closer. I felt the air leave the room again.  
"Why else would you be sweeping the streets tonight? You know it's out there." Mulder accused.  
"I got a perpetrator out there. Whether it's Hannibal the Cannibal or Elmer Fudd, I've got a job, to protect people."  
"Oh is that your job, or is it to keep the dice rolling, keep the tour buses rolling in? You can't fill those casinos, this town disappears like a quarter down the slot." There was a brief pause of silence following Mulder's words. "I've seen it."  
"Seen what?" Mulder reached into his back pocket and pulled out the piece of paper with the drawing of the creature. My stomach clenched in pain. He unfolded it and showed it to Detective Thompson, who looked at it and laughed. "You've been spending too much time in supermarket check-out lines." Detective Thompson took the paper, folded it again and threw it onto the table. My heart sped up. "This story's as old as the hills."  
"Who's going to be responsible when you lose your first tourist, Detective? You are." Mulder said.  
"No, you are sir, because you're wasting my time, and impeding the solution of this case." Detective Thompson opened the door and stood by it. "You wanna go on a safari, go to Africa. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your weekend."  
He left, closing the door behind him, and leaving Mulder and I sitting by ourselfs. I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them before burying my face in my knees. I couldn't get enough air. I shivered as tears began to roll silently down my cheeks.  
"Are you okay?" Mulder asked. I didn't answer. "River?"  
Mulder kneeled down in front of me. "River are you okay?"  
"I'm fine." I choked out. "Just give me a minute."  
I focused on my breathing and when it was back to normal I slowly uncurled from my ball, wiping my cheeks as I dd so.  
"Okay now?" Mulder checked. I nodded. "Then I'm gonna call Scully."  
I followed him out of the room and leaned against the wall, making a curtain with my hair over my face, while Mulder made the call.  
"This is Agent Mulder. Could you put Agent Scully on please?" He asked. He waited a moment before answering a question. "I'm not far from where you left me." Mulder said. Another moment. "Er Scully, you got anything happening this morning?" I grimaced as one of the men in the cells began throwing up. "That's a guy getting sick." Mulder waited another moment. "We got taken in because they thought I was drunk."

Mulder, Scully, and I were walking along a street, Mulder's clothes looked dirty.  
"Well, it's not hard to see why they mistook you for a vagrant." Scully commented.  
"You gonna rag on me or you gonna take us to get something to eat?" Mulder asked.  
"Am I buying or did you manage to pan-handle some spare change while you were at it?" Scully said irritated.

Mulder, Scully, and I were sitting at a table, Mulder was eating a meal, talking at times with food in his mouth. Scully was drinking coffee while I slowly ate a bacon and cheese omelet.  
"It moved like a cat, quick and graceful. There's no way a human could've got up on the roof that fast." Mulder said.  
"Mulder."  
"What?" Mulder asked.  
"What's gonna happen when word of this gets back to the bureau?" Scully asked.  
"They dropped the charges, that guy Thompson, he ran me through the system just to spite me." Mulder said.  
"I'm talking about this Jersey Devil thing."  
"I saw it, it's exactly the way the ranger described it, the way it moved, the way it sniffed the air. It's come out of the woods, probably in search of food." Mulder reasoned.  
"Hyeah, I'll say."  
"It was peeking through the garbage Scully, if it was a man-eater, why didn't it come after me and River? Probably felt threatened in some way.." Mulder figured.  
"Mulder, listen to yourself. You're already ascribing it a motive and an alibi. This thing, chewing somebody's arm off is not exactly a defensive posture." Scully scolded.  
"But you do believe that we saw something, don't you?" Mulder questioned.  
"You saw something, I'll give you that but I'm not about to go in and sell it. Not when it's nothing more than a sighting in a dark alley." Scully said dismissively.  
"I still got a hotel room I'm paying for." Mulder commented.  
"Yeah well, I have got to get back to Washington by 7:30, so er.." Scully trailed off.  
"Another birthday party?" Mulder inquired.  
"No. I have a date."  
Mulder looked at Scully. "Can you cancel?"  
"Unlike you Mulder, I would like to have a life."  
"I have a life!" Mulder protested. I grinned.  
Mulder and Scully looked at each other, Scully looked away with a slight laugh. "C'mon, I have somebody I want you to meet, on the way home. C'mon."  
Mulder, with a mouth full of food, lifted his hand and gave a consenting grunt. He wanted to finish his meal.

Mulder poured himself a cup of coffee, Scully was standing, arms crossed, beside another man who was talking. "Just about every culture has one. Yetis, Sasquatch, Russian Almas, Dsonoqua."  
"Why is that?" Mulder asked.  
"Oh, it's a kind of universal wild man myth. A symbolic fear of our dual natures as humans, as creators of life and destroyers of it." Dr. Diamond explained.  
"What's this chart?" Mulder asked him.  
Dr. Diamond walked towards Mulder and the chart. "It shows the historic entry of man onto each continent and the effect it had on other animal species, which as you see has been disastrous."  
"Why?" Mulder asked as he went to sit down.  
"Well, we humans have retained hereditary traits through evolution that have proven to be extremely destructive. We tend to be tribal and aggressively territorial, oriented by selfish sexual and reproductive drives that make, co-operation beyond the family-a-tribe, extremely hard for us." Dr. Diamond explained.  
"So we kill other species in order to survive." Mulder summed up.  
"Yeah, humans are top carnivores, we sit at the top of the food chain and we, reduce other species' chance of survival." Scully added.  
"Nice to know Dana left here with more than a degree." Dr. Diamond commented.  
"But what if something entered the food chain above us?" Mulder questioned.  
Dr. Diamond poured himself a cup of coffee now, and walked back towards Mulder, Scully, and I, at a table. I flinched slightly. What was wrong with me? I wasn't frightened of Mulder, so why am I frightened of every other male that came near me?  
"It won't happen, see our intelligence virtually insures us, barring the introduction of some alien life-form, we will live out our days as rulers of the world." The doctor told Mulder  
"But, but what if through some fluke of nature, a human was born, who reverted to it's most animal instincts, a kind of carnivorous neanderthal. Wouldn't he occupy a space above us on the food chain?" Mulder questioned.  
"Oh sure, all he'd have to do is wait outside any fast-food restaurant and eat us on the way in." Dr. Diamond said sarcastically.  
"Right, yeah, and, and haven't there been cases where, men have been raised in the wilderness by animals who have no language and hunt like predators?" Mulder checked.  
"Oh yes several, but you see cannibalism is rare, even among the lower mammals."  
"But even when faced with extinction?" Mulder asked.  
"Well maybe in the jungles of New Gineau or, it's just, highly unlikely that what you're suggesting could've survived civilization, a revolution, out in the woods of New Jersey."  
"Yea, highly unlikely, but not outside the realm of extreme possibility?" Mulder inquired.  
"Well, it would be an amazing discovery." Dr. Diamond nodded his head a few times.  
Mulder looked back at Scully. Nothing was said, but she turned to look away.

Mulder took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, he looked at the time on a clock on the wall, it was 7:55 p.m.. The phone rang.  
"Mulder." Mulder answered. It was on speaker.  
"Agent Mulder, this is Peter Boulay of the Jersey Parks Department."  
"Oh yeah, hi." Mulder greeted.  
"Hi, I found a body out in the woods today, it looks like it's been dead about six to eight months. A long haired male, missing the same tooth I found in that rabbit a while back. It could be your devil." The Park Ranger informed us.  
"Where's the body now?" Mulder asked.  
"I turned it over to the coroner's office." Peter responded.  
"You're sure it was a male?" Mulder checked.  
"Well, it had all the plumbing."  
"Okay thanks." Mulder said before hanging up and calling Scully. She didn't answer.  
The phone in Mulder's office rang after a moment. "Scully."  
"Mulder."  
"Sorry to interrupt your evening." Mulder said first.  
"That's ok, what's up?" Scully asked.  
"I just had an amazing thought, maybe it isn't a beast-man we're looking for after all." Mulder was holding up the drawing of the creature. My stomach clenched as I began to feel naseous. It seemed to happen every time I thought of the creature.

The next morning we went to the Atlantic city Morgue.  
Glenna was looking through a filing cabinet, and pulled out a file. She walked back towards Scully and the ranger, Mulder was walking beside her and I was standing in the doorway.  
"Well, if they picked it up, nobody logged the body on the chart. I sure haven't seen it."  
"Well, I don't understand. What else would they have done with it?" Peter asked.  
"I'm afraid we may have called you down here for nothing." Scully said. Scully was talking to Dr. Diamond, who was also standing with the others.  
"They're going to try and sweep this whole thing under the carpet." Mulder stated.  
"Why?" Dr. Diamond asked.  
"Any publicity and you're got the streets crawling with the kind of people who aren't here to play the crap tables. Word gets out there's something still on the loose, forget it." Mulder answered.  
"You said it was a female."  
"The body they found was a male, there's a fifty-fifty chance there was a mate. We may never know unless we find out ourselves." Mulder explained.  
"If it's true, what're the chances of catching it alive?"  
Mulder was cutting the wire attaching the wire fence to the metal post with a small pair of wire-cutters in the alleyway we had been in the previus night.  
"If it is a primate, it would have a natural fear of heights. It would also want to stay close to it's food source." Dr. Diamond said.  
Mulder stepped through the fence and held it back so that Scully, Dr. Diamond, Peter Boulay, and I could get through. The ranger was carrying a rifle.  
"This thing has no fear of heights. We'll stay together and start with the lower floors. How much time will that dart give us?" Mulder asked.  
"It'll put down a five hundred pound bear for an hour, if I hit it." Peter answered.  
We all entered a building, the same building that Mulder saw the creature enter and run across the roof. It was an old building, with bars on the doors and windows, the windows had been smashed.  
Back inside the building, Scully was walking past some lockers while Dr. Diamond was looking at a pile of rubbish.  
He lifted a few empty bags and plastic covers, and then he noticed something. He crouched down and picked up a piece of cloth and smelled it.  
"Something here." The others arrived at the location of Dr. Diamond, who got up. "It's blood. She could be bringing her killing here. She could be injured."  
Everyone was still looking inside, but now we were up a few floors.  
Mulder peered over a railing and looked down, Scully came near. "What if it is a female Scully? How close is she to you or me? Does she feel emotion? Or are her days just spent looking for food?"  
"Maybe, she spends her day shopping." Scully joked.  
"Eight million years out of Africa, I don't think we're all that different." Mulder said.  
"Mulder, we've put men into space, we've built computers that work faster than the human mind." Scully said.  
"While we over-populate the world and create new technologies to kill each other with. Maybe we're just beasts with big brains." Mulder spoke his thoughts. Scully was standing, not moving, a still face gazing into nothingness. "What?"  
"No I was just, thinking about my godson's birthday party, eight little six year old boys running around, talk about primitive behaviour." Scully explained.  
Mulder heard the voice of Detective Thompson and peered, once again, over the railing. He saw the detective standing talking to Dr. Diamond with a couple of police officers standing beside them.  
"Now look, his name is Mulder and he's a federal agent, you ever hear of him? He might be with a black haired girl? 'Bout fifteen?" Thompson asked.  
"No."  
"You know him?" The Detective asked.  
"No."  
Mulder put his finger to his mouth, Scully turned and looked down over the railing as I came over.  
"Well what are you doing here?" Thompson questioned.  
"I'm a professor of Anthropology."  
"Mulder, does that sound familar to you? Look, I know he's here somewhere. Would you check you upstairs Andrew, go check upstairs. I want this place searched..." The Detective ordered.  
Mulder, Scully, and I continued our search of the higher levels of the building.  
Mulder was looking through a room and stopped, suddenly we heard a noise and as Mulder looked in the direction of the noise, a figure ran past a window. Mulder gave chase. Mulder stopped after coming around a corner and walked slowly along the corridor.  
I heard Scully's voice, quiet and soft as not to arouse the attention of the police. "Mulder? Mulder where are you?"  
I hurried after Mulder and saw him running across a roof opposite the building I was in. I hurried to the roof and jumped over and landed on top of the roof of the other building, Scully followed, and like Mulder, rolled on her landing. While I landed in a crouch I noticed smugly. Scully took out her gun and got to her feet, crouching under large metal girders, making her way to where I saw Mulder going. I was ahead of her.  
Scully and I had made our way to the top of the steps, and Scully descended slowly with her gun trained in front of her while I ran down somehow already knowing that I was safe. I was confused when I realized my footfalls were soundless. I didn't even freeze as I saw what situation Mulder was in.  
The beast backed off from Mulder and Mulder tried to sit up, as he did so the beast-woman swiped at him, knocking him back to the ground and causing him to hit his head. I veered off my course and placed my foot on the side of the wall and pushed up so I could grab onto a bar above me and pull myself up. I then went into the room Mulder was in.  
Scully approached the bottom of the steps. "Mulder?"  
The beast-woman ran off, Scully quickly ran down the last few steps.  
"Scully." Mulder was sitting up when Scully entered the room, she put away her gun, and attended to Mulder.  
"Lay back. Oh, Mulder you're hurt." Scully said. No kidding. I think he noticed.  
"You should've seen her, she was beautiful." Mulder said.  
"Yeah well, she just about ripped your lungs out." Scully commented. I waited a moment before slipping into a different roof still balancing on the pipes.  
Something was in here. Something that wasn't the beast woman. But what? I yelped as I lost my balance and fell to the ground about 20 feet down. I quickly forgot about the pain in my back as I felt a thousand knives in my stomach. I curled into a ball and stuffed my fist into my mouth to prevent myself from screaming. But I couldn't stop the whimper that came out. After a few minutes I managed to get up and head back to where Scully and Mulder were. The pain had subsided, but now my back was on fire.

Mulder was sitting in the back of an ambulance getting medical attention when I walked out, he was holding his shirt up while a medic attended to his wound. Dr. Diamond was sitting in the ambulance also.  
"She could've torn my head off Scully but she didn't, she sensed that I wasn't a threat.." Mulder said. I held my stomach and waited a moment as I tried not to throw up.  
"You've gotta hold still." The ambulance dude said as I walked closer to the ambulance.  
Scully was talking on her cellular. "Yeah I need to talk somebody who can get me federal jurisdiction on this case. Mulder."  
"What?" Mulder asked. They hadn't noticed me yet.  
"How old would you say she was?" Diamond asked.  
Both Scully and Dr. Diamond were talking to Mulder at the same time but he turned his attention to Scully. "What?"  
"The US assistant D.A.'s on the phone with the bureau right now, he wants to know what the hell is going on up here in Atlantic City." Scully said.  
"Well tell him he's got a real live neanderthal on the loose. She was young, I, I, I don't know...It's hard to say exactly what, what, what..." Mulder trailed off.  
"The Atlantic City major crime unit has filed a complaint that we're endangering a murder investigation." Scully informed him.  
"That is such crap, you can.." Mulder trailed off again.  
The ranger came over to the ambulance. "Agent Mulder, they got her cornered, in a building."  
"Let's go." Mulder said getting up.  
Two police officers restrained Mulder as he tried to get past when he arrived at the building they had cornered her in. "You could take her alive."  
"What's going on in there?" Thompson asked.  
"I got a man down, I got a naked woman just jumped from a second storey window." The S.W.A.T. officer was looking out of a window as he was talking. "Suspect is headed south into the woods on foot."  
I ran after her being careful not to be seen.

As Mulder, Scully, The ranger, and Dr. Diamond made their way to the top of a rockface, the ranger noticed the beast-woman and pointed her out. "Look."  
"Can you reach her from here?" I heard Mulder ask. I was in the bushes right behind the beast woman. My stomach was blazing, but I kept quiet and tried to ignore it.  
"I can try." Peter aimed at the beast-woman and fired, the dart hit her in the back of the right shoulder. She pulled the dart out and continued on her way.  
Mulder lead the others down the side of the rockface, holding his side, and they ran across a bridge. I ran back into the trees and took a different route to where I somehow knew she would be. A moment before I arrived I heard gunshots and I fell to the ground in a heap. It felt as though I had been shot in the chest, but the pain was over quickly, but soon turned into more pain than I had ever felt, but I couldn't cry out.  
"I got it. Up ahead. I got it. She tried to take my arm off. Watch it right here." A voice said. I could see the scene clearly.  
A man was sitting holding his arm, as Mulder arrived at the scene of the shooting, blood staining his shirt from his wound, he stopped and looked at the scene and advanced to the body of the beast-woman.  
"Right there. Looks like she was trying to bury herself." The man continued.  
The beast-woman lied dead on the ground, leaves partially covering her lower back and legs.  
Mulder crouched down beside her and pulled back her hair and moved his hand over her eyes, shutting them. He paused for a moment and then got up and walked over to Detective Thompson. "Why did you have to kill her?"  
"Same reason you kill a rabid animal." Thompson responded.  
Mulder stood looking at the detective, Scully moved to Mulder and touched his arm. Mulder looked at Scully, without saying a word, Scully walked off, followed by Mulder. Peter Boulay looked from the detective to the body.  
I managed to force my self to my feet and walk back to where Mulder would be.

Mulder was looking at photos of the body of the dead beast-woman, he put them with the rest of the file into a filing cabinet. Scully entered the office carrying a file. Mulder sat down, Scully passed something to Mulder.  
"Hi, this just came through, it's the posthumous medical exam on the woman's body. They found fragments of human bones still in her digestive tract, they estimated her age to be twenty-five to thirty years. Now they allowed Dr. Diamond to do a medical exam of the body but he found nothing that suggested prehistoric bone structure or physiology. Now the ACPD has her listed as a Jane Doe, and a search for her identity in state psychiatric records has begun, in earnest." Scully said. It was one week later and I was curled up next to the window wearing my blue jeans, black converse, and a white turtleneck.  
"Good luck." Mulder said.  
Scully gave Mulder the file she was holding. "They have also released the medical exam from the male body that they found, his age is estimated to be about forty years."  
"There would have been offspring." Mulder commented.  
"The medical exam of the women's uterus does seem to indicate that she may have given birth."  
"She was just protecting her children Scully, it all makes sense." Mulder got up and got his coat from behind the door. "The male dies and she comes out of the woods in search of food."  
"Mulder will you do me a favour, will you just go out and have a beer, will you take the day off. I'll cover for you, will you just, take some time for yourself."  
"Thanks for the offer but I've got an appointment at the Smithsonian with.. " The phone rang "...an ethno-biologist, I can't wait to tell him about this." Mulder answered the phone. "Mulder, yeah just a second, it's for you."  
Mulder approached a reception desk at the head of a busy office. "Requisition for a car please Fran. Thank you." Mulder was filling out the form when Scully arrived. "Who was that on the phone?"  
"A guy."  
"A guy. Same guy as the guy you had dinner with the other night?" Mulder asked.  
"Same guy."  
"You gonna have dinner with him again?" Mulder inquired.  
"I don't think so."  
"No interest?" Mulder finished filling in the form and passed it back to Fran.  
"Not at this time."  
Fran gave Mulder a set of keys.  
"Thanks Fran." Mulder walked away from the desk and towards a door. Scully walked with him as I trailed behind. "What are you doing?"  
"I'm going with you to the Smithsonian."  
"Don't you have a life Scully?" Mulder teased.  
"Keep that up Mulder and I'll hurt you like that beast-woman." Scully stopped at the door, her hand on the handle.  
"Eight million years out of Africa." Mulder repeated.  
Scully opened the door. "Look who's holding the door."  
Mulder and I walked through the doorway followed by Scully.


	6. Shadows

Mulder, Scully, another man, and I walked into the morgue where two corpses lied under sheets on the slabs. On the other side of the room there were two women and a man standing there.  
"Agent Scully, Agent Mulder, Chief Blevins assures us of your cooperation. We regret any inconvenience at this extreme hour." The man said. I'm here too I thought with a sigh and an eye roll.  
"We hope your expertise in extraordinary phenomena matters will help us in our investigation." One of the woman spoke.  
"You're not FBI, are you?" Mulder asked.  
"Have you ever seen anything like this before?" The second woman handed Mulder a chart and pulled the sheet off one of the corpse's body. His arm flinched. "Abnormal post mortem muscle reflex. Both corpses are still responding to high levels of electrostatic charge."  
"Any sign of external legions or surface burns?" I asked.  
"None."  
"Time of death?" Mulder asked. The woman didn't answer, just looked at the other two in the corner.  
"Well, it can't be long. The body's still warm." Scully said.  
"Somatic death occurred sometime over 6 hours ago. Their body temperatures have yet to drop below 98.3 degrees." I murmered before I could stop myself.  
"How did you know that?" The man asked. I didn't answer.  
"Where did you find them?" Mulder questioned. No answer. "Look, at least tell us the mode of transport. That might tell us why the bodies haven't cooled." Still no answer from them. "Hey, you called us down here. If you want some answers you have to give some."  
The man finally answered. "They traveled 60 minutes by air."  
"Thank you." Mulder said.  
"The most troubling aspect of their deaths is the throat area." The second woman walked over to an X Ray screen. "Larynx, esophagus, and hyoid bone all have been crushed like chalk. There is no evidence of tissue damage. It's as if their throats were crushed... from the inside."  
Mulder and Scully took a close look at the X Rays of the men I only glanced.  
"Who are these guys?" Mulder asked. No answer.  
"If you've conducted your investigation, why consult us?" I asked.  
They all looked at me strangely, but the first woman answered. "Because of your work on the X Files. Have you ever seen anything like this?"  
"Ah, uh. Never." Mulder said.  
"Well, thank you for your time Agent Mulder, Scully. If any inquiry into this meeting be made, we request full denial." The man said again not acknowledging me.  
"I'd say you people already suffer from full denial." Mulder, Scully, and I left.

Scully, Mulder, and I walked down the hall outside the morgue.  
"You lied. You have seen this before, I can tell. You lied to them." Scully accused.  
"I would never lie. I willfully participated in a campaign of misinformation." Mulder stated.  
"Who do you think they were?" I asked.  
"NSA, CIA, some convert organization Congress will uncover in the next scandal. It's not important who they are but what they have and I'm sure they have no idea because they pulled us in. I have X Files. Each case with an element of what we saw tonight. Residual electrostatic charge, internal mutilation without any external causality - but none has all the elements combined in one case." Mulder answered.  
"How can the esophagus be crushed without the neck even being touched?" Scully questioned.  
"Psychokinetic manipulation." Mulder said simply.  
"Psychokinesis? You mean how Carrie got even at the prom?" Scully asked.  
"The Russians were doing studies on it. The Chinese still are. Their findings are kept secret." Mulder informed her as we got into an elevator.  
"Ok, I'm intrigued. How can we investigate, we have nothing to go on." Scully said. Mulder put his arm around her shoulders and brought his eyeglasses up and exhaled on them. There was a perfect fingerprint on each lens.

Mulder was looking at a computer screen with a picture of one of the corpses. "Mohamed Amalaki. Convictions: Illegal possession of firearms. Illegal possession of explosives. Falsification of export licenses."  
Scully walked around him with a file and put it on his desk. "He has ties to extremist group operating in the US. The Isfahan. They take their name from a city in Iran. Recently they've been working out of Philadelphia."  
"That's 60 air minutes." Mulder said.  
"I'll talk to the Philly P.D."

Mulder, Scully, and I were in the alley of Lauren's attack with a cop on broad street philadelphia.  
"It was last Wednesday night. I was on routine patrol. This is where we found them." The cop said.  
"Who discovered their bodies?" Scully asked.  
"Nobody. It was about 10. I was on patrol. Just saw them hanging around. The folks that come around here, they don't witness very much. You hear what I'm saying?"  
Mulder walked off with me behind him, Scully and the cop still talking. I saw an anxious woman at the ATM. She left and Mulder looked at it.

On the surveillance film from the ATM, I saw an older man taking money out. We were back at the FBI office.  
"A daily visual record is made of everyone who makes a transaction." Mulder said.  
"We'll just have to interview everyone who was at the machine before 10 last night." Scully replied.  
I saw Lauren at the machine and she was being dragged off by the two attackers at 9:45.  
"There. Back up." Mulder said.  
Scully read her file out. "Lauren Kyte. 858 Franklin, Bensalem. Why would the Isfahan being robbing someone for 40 bucks at an ATM machine?"  
"Look at that." Mulder stopped the film and there was a ghostly flash across the screen. Hovering over them.  
"It's another person." Scully said.  
"Maybe, maybe not." Mulder responded.  
"Well, the resolution is too poor. It won't help much to enhance it."  
"That leaves only one person we know we can talk to." Mulder concluded.

The next place we went to was Lauren Kytes house. Mulder knocked.  
"Hello?" A woman answered.  
"Miss Lauren Kyte, please." Mulder said. She opened the door and Mulder flashed his badge. "I'm Agent Fox Mulder and this is Agent Dana Scully and my daughter River. We're with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Do you mind if we come in?"  
"Um, I was just in the middle of ..." Lauren tried to deter us.  
"Thank you. We won't be long." Mulder squeezed through the door way and past Lauren into the house. Scully entered and smiled at Lauren as I came in. Lauren closed the door behind us.  
Scully showed pictures to Lauren. "Have you seen either of these two men before?"  
"No."  
"Take your time." Scully replied rudely.  
"I'm sorry. I've never seen them before."  
"I'm afraid you have." Scully showed her another picture. "This is a surveillance picture from your ATM." It was a picture of Lauren and the attackers. Their faces clear.  
"Can you tell us what happened that night?" Mulder asked.  
"Um... These guys, I was depositing my paycheck. They grabbed me, I got away. I ran. I just didn't want to file a report." Lauren said.  
"They were found dead." Mulder said. She looked shocked.  
Scully gave her another picture. "Have you ever seen this person before?" It was the still frame from the surveillance video of the spectral image.  
"No. I'm sorry. I can't tell you."  
"Does that mean you know?" Mulder asked.  
"It means I can't tell who it is." Lauren corrected. Liar.  
"When you can tell me, this is the number where I can be reached at anytime, ok?" Mulder asked handing her a card.  
"Ah hum."  
Mulder, Scully, and I left.

Mulder, Scully, and I walked to the car.  
"A woman her size breaking free and out running those men?" Scully scoffed.  
"And somehow crushing their necks?" Mulder added as we got into the car and put on our seatbelts. Lauren was looking at us through her window.  
"She knows who the other person in that photo is." I said.  
"Packing, running away, from what?" Mulder asked rhetorically. The parking brake went off, the car was put into reverse, and the doors were locked. Mulder tried to brake, but the car spun backward.  
"What the hell's going on?" Scully asked.  
"Hang on!" Mulder turned around and steered the car speeding backward, trying to brake. The car was hit in the intersection by another car. My head hit the side window. The car came to a stop. "You ok?"  
"Yeah." Scully said.  
"I hit my head, but I'll be fine." I answered.  
Mulder looked over at the other driver, shaking his head wondering what happened. Lauren was still looking out the window and she pulled the drapes when Mulder saw her.

Mulder was crouched at the side of the dented car. I could hear them from where the paramedics were checking me over.  
Scully walked up. "Hi."  
"Hi. The paramedics check you out?" Mulder greeted.  
"Yeah. I'm fine. Except I have a waiting-in-line-at-the-DMV-sized headache." Scully answered.  
"Mine's more IRS sized." Mulder commented.  
"They check out the car?" Scully questioned.  
"Yeah, it's brand new. Only a 100 miles." Mulder responded.  
"Then someone tampered with it while we were in her house."  
"Mechanic said everything is in proper order. Nothing cut, nothing greased. Check out the lights." Mulder suggested.  
"They are on."  
"They're not. The filaments are heated due to massive levels of electrostatic charge. Just like the bodies at the morgue. And isn't it interesting that Lauren Kyte was present at both incidents?" Mulder asked.  
"She was in our presence the entire time we were at her house." Scully objected.  
"What if it's possible somehow to raise a body's electrostatic charge to levels we've been seeing and use that energy to affect objects?" Mulder spoke his theory.  
"If a person could generate that much energy, their body would break down. They'd start glowing like those lights." Scully said.  
"Well there's evidence of this all through the X Files. Furniture moving untouched, objects levitating, unexplained electrical discharges. Frequently people who have psychokinetic power are unaware of their own capability." Mulder told her.  
"Are you saying Lauren Kyte crashed our car?"  
"Either that or a poltergeist." Mulder spoke the options.  
"They're here..." Scully did a poor imitation of the little girl from the movie, "Poltergeist".  
"They may be." Mulder said seriously.  
"Oh, come on Mulder, look at the tangible evidence. Two Mid-East extremists are killed trying to assault a woman working for a manufacturer of parts for the Defense Department. While we questioned her our car is sabotaged. Now in both those cases, someone else may have committed those acts. Maybe the same someone we saw in those ATM photos. The mystery isn't psychokinetic energy, it's her accomplice." Scully said. They both noticed the lights of the car were out.  
"Actually, ghosts are real." I said as I walked up.  
"You okay?" Mulder asked.  
"Yeah. Got a headache. And a cut on my arm when the windows shattered, but it's not deep." I answered.  
"What do you mean ghosts are real?" Scully asked me.  
"Well in order to answer that you would have to accompany me on one of my night adventures." I replied with a smile.

Mulder, Scully, and I were sitting in our new rental, Mulder with binoculars, Scully going through papers and I was watching some birds.  
"She's clean. No arrest, not even a traffic ticket. The only thing is, she's in deep with her credit card company... $15,000." Scully said. We looked over at Lauren, mad at a sign painter painting over Howard Graves' parking spot with a new name, Tom Braidwood.  
"No, no." Lauren grabbed the stencil out of the painter's hands. "I'll talk to somebody, just go."  
"A little upset over losing a parking space, wouldn't you say? So, who is Howard Graves anyway?" Mulder asked.

Scully was pouring over the microfiche film. Scully got Mulder's attention and I came over as well and read an article from a newspaper. Howard Graves Suicide Creates Shock.  
"She was his secretary. That's three people dead in the last month all associated with Lauren Kyte." Mulder said. The newspaper article said Howard slashed his wrists in a bathtub.

Mulder, Scully, and I pulled up to the cemetery to see Lauren put flowers on a grave. We watched her as she sadly walked away from the grave site. We got out of the car and went to the grave she put flowers on. It was Howard Graves'.  
"You don't see too many bosses graves without people dancing on it." Mulder stated.  
"Look at this one." I said. There was another maker next to Howard's that read, \'93 Sarah Lynn Graves September 8, 1966 to August 3 1969". There was a groundskeeper planting flowers nearby.  
"Excuse me, Sir? Is there an office here so that I can get information on those people?" Mulder asked.  
"I attend every funeral. I'm the last person to see them put to rest."  
"Do you know how Sarah Lynn is related to Howard Graves?" Mulder questioned.  
"His daughter. They were at home one day and he didn't latch the pool gate. She drowned. His wife left him a year later. She's buried in a plot in the Northeast corner."  
"Thank you, Sir." Mulder closed.  
"You're welcome." The groundskeeper left. Mulder, Scully, and I went to Sarah's grave again.  
"She was only three years old." Scully said.  
"If she'd lived, she'd be Lauren's age." Mulder said. Scully looked at Mulder and he looked at her.

The photo of the figure in the front window was being put on the computer and manipulated at the crime lab. The framing of just the window of the photo was enlarged and I saw the figure was Lauren Kyte, but right behind her was another figure. Mulder and Scully were with the computer operator as well.  
"Enhance it by 10." Scully said. He did. "That's Howard Graves. He's alive."  
"Not necessarily." Mulder said.

Scully, Mulder, and I walked down a flight of steps in a stairwell at the national bureau of medical examiners philadelphia, pa.  
"I think Howard Graves faked his own death." Scully said. I rolled my eyes.  
"Do you know how difficult it is to fake your own death? Only one man has pulled it off, Elvis." Mulder told her.  
"He and Lauren Kyte are in on something. Maybe an illegal deal through his company. Something the CIA was interested in." Scully argued.  
"You may be right." Mulder said as we got to the door to the office of Ellen Bledsoe, ME.  
"Wait, you think I'm right?" Scully asked stunned.  
"Sure, all you got to do is prove that Howard Graves is still alive." Mulder knocked on the door.

I saw a dour black woman's face, Ellen Bledsoe, I presumed.  
"Howard Graves is very dead." Ellen said sternly.  
"May we see the autopsy report, please?" I asked.  
Ellen tossed it across the desk. "Knock yourself out."  
Scully read the report over my shoulder. "Cause of death... arterial hemorrhage..."  
"4 to 6 liters of blood down the tub." Ellen informed.  
"Well there seems to be some blood work missing here." I said.  
"We only do that when we suspect homicide."  
"I don't suppose you ran any dental conformation?" Mulder questioned.  
"What for? It was him."  
"How did you know?" Scully inquired.  
"It said so on the toe tag."  
"Who made positive ID on the body?" Mulder asked.  
I looked through the report again. "Lauren Kyte."  
"But Howard Graves was cremated. There would be no way to run a dental check or to get a DNA sample." Mulder stated.  
"Yes, there is. His body's tissues and organs were donated." I told them.

Mulder, Scully, me, and another man in a lab coat were standing in a hallway looking through a window to the Cryogenics lab while the man talked. There were lots of people working in the lab. We were at the University of Philadelphia Hospital.  
"Howard Graves is in 5 different people. They harvested his organs immediately after death. His kidneys were sent to Boston, his liver to Dallas, and his corneas to Portland, Oregon. They've all been transplanted. Because of his age, we could only cryo-preserve the dura matter, the membrane of the spinal column. We have Mr. Graves' hospital records, we'll extract a sample, run a test and in a couple of hours... confirm the identity of the donor." The man said.

Mulder and Scully were reading and fidgeting at the University of Pa Office. Mulder's cell phone rang. While he answered it, the lab guy entered and talked to Scully.  
"Mulder." He listened a moment. "Why?" A moment later he closed the phone.  
"The tests are conclusive, the dura matter does belong to Howard Graves. He is indeed, very dead." Scully told us. Mulder got up and walked away.

Mulder, Scully, and I drove up outside Lauren's house. I heard screams from inside the house and we raced to the front door. Mulder pushed the woman aside as he opened the door. He looked into the living room and the man was hanging from nothing in the middle of the room. Lauren was crying. The man fell to the floor as Scully entered the house, gun drawn. We looked at Lauren whimpering in a crouched position on the floor.

Mulder was sitting across the table from Lauren as Scully leaned against a window ledge. I sat in a chair against the wall in the interrogation room.  
"You know, you're not under arrest. You're just here for questioning. The sooner you talk to us the sooner you get to go home." Scully paused. "What happened to those people tonight?" Lauren wasn't saying anything. "Do you have any idea who they might be. Why did they attack you?"  
Mulder picked up a picture and walked around the table and showed it to Lauren. "Do you know who this is?"  
The man from the beginning, the non-talker at the morgue walked in.  
"Scully, Mulder... He'll keep an eye on her." The man motioned to an officer who entered the room after him. "Come. Now." Scully, Mulder, and I left the room with him.  
The woman from the morgue was here too. "You've seriously compromised our investigation."  
"We were following leads pertaining to an X File." Mulder said.  
"I want to know every detail of your activities concerning this case." The man demanded.  
"What case? You're the ones who've been withholding information." I countered.  
They all fell silent.  
"Then we have nothing more to talk about." Mulder said. Mulder, Scully, and I walked away. The woman and man followed us to the hallway.  
"We believe HTG Technologies was selling restricted parts to the Isfahan. Partial serial numbers from their manifest were recovered in the wreckage of a July bombing of a Navy transport van." The woman said.  
"How's Lauren Kyte involved?" Mulder questioned.  
"We don't quite know. Your actions impeded our investigation." The man said.  
"In any case, we don't have enough evidence to hold her. If she doesn't talk, she goes free and we lose our chance to break this company." The woman said.  
"I could make her talk." The man said smug.  
"My advise to you. Don't get rough with her." Mulder warned, angrily.

The woman and man walked out of the interrogation room. The woman kept walking. The man regarded Mulder and Scully.  
"Your turn." The man left. Scully, Mulder, and I walked into the room. "Lauren?" I started cautiously, seeing as I was the only one who hadn't tried.  
"I won't talk to you, either." Lauren said.  
"Ok, then you're free to go." Mulder said. Lauren looked up surprised and got up from her chair. Scully threw a surprised look in Mulder's direction as Lauren walked by her.  
Lauren paused at the door. "I can't go back to that house."  
"Why? Because of Howard Graves?" Mulder asked.  
"He's dead."  
"I know. He's watching over you, isn't he?" Mulder said.

Later a tape recorder was rolling.  
"I don't know if you've ever been a secretary. Sometimes your boss can talk as if you weren't even in the room, which can hurt, you know? Sometimes... you're all he has to talk to. Which is how it was all the time with me and Howard. One night, late, I went into his office. He was crying, more scared than sad. The Pentagon contracts were being canceled, the company was going under, he felt personally responsible for each of his employees... seeing and feeling their fear every day... it really wore him down. Then this one time, Dorland came with that group... that Mid East group... Isfahan, that terrorist group. They'd buy parts at an outrageous price. Not just once, but for as long as they could get away with it. That night Howard was crying, he'd just found out the Isfahan had just claimed responsibility for killing a couple of sailors in Florida. He was never the same. And I thought that was why he killed himself. But he didn't... I saw ... Howard showed me how Dorland had him killed. Made it look like a  
suicide because he see Howard was going to put an end to the deal." Lauren explained.  
"So now Howard is protecting you?" Mulder asked.  
"It sounds so ridiculous."  
"But you believe it." Scully stated.  
"He was closer to me than my father. I told him that. I still feel his presence. Sometimes... I even smell his aftershave. If you just could've ... seen ... the things I've seen... I just... want all that to go away. I'm leaving. Maybe he can move on." Lauren said.  
Scully got up from the table and went to Lauren. "That's not enough. You've been given the chance to tell him again. Take it. Tell him you love him, by showing him, by... helping us finish his unfinished business. Lauren, how will you ever be able to rest if he never can?"  
Lauren nodded. "Ok." Scully nodded too. "I'm a mess. I'm um, going to wash up." She left.  
"What are you doing Scully? You don't believe." Mulder asked confused.  
"Mulder, there's no such thing as ghosts or psychokinesis. I'm sure there's an explanation. But I believe that she believes. And my priority is to get her to help us stop Dorland." Scully said.  
"Well we may have just sacrificed our best opportunity to observe spectral phenomena." Mulder said.  
"Plus, that's wrong." I added.  
"I'm giving us a chance to solve a case that's tangible instead of chasing after shadows."  
Scully left leaving Mulder and I to ponder.

Lots of FBI came down the stairs, Mulder and I with them. He went to Lauren standing by a car. Scully approached.  
"You ready?" Mulder asked. She nodded.  
Scully addressed the troops. "All right, everyone. We have a warrant to search the premises for evidence of the sale of restricted manufactured parts. The evidence may be in the form of falsified export licences, parts manifests, communiques. It could be on computer disks or hard copy."  
"Once there, when in doubt, ask. We need this to be clean. This is the culmination of a year long investigation. If we don't come out of there today with something proving a connection to the Isfahan, this guy could walk." The man that refused to acknowledge me said.  
"Lets go." Scully said. The men broke up. Lauren walked with Scully. "Now, it will most likely be in Dorland's office. We'll conduct the search, but we need you to guide us so we need you to be strong, okay?" Scully opened the back door of the car for her. Lauren got in. The cars pulled out.

The FBI walked into the office of HTG Industrial Technologies.  
Scully walked in with them with her badge. "Everybody stay calm. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Ma'am, could you step away from those files, please?"  
The FBI moved people around and out of the way and others started looking in files, drawers, reports, etc. Dorland came out of his office. Scully and Lauren walked by him into his office. Mulder and I stayed outside with him.

Later the man and woman from the morgue came over to Mulder, Scully, and I.  
"This is all we could find." The woman said.  
"We don't have him. He's not even breaking a sweat." Mulder said. Dorland was standing in a corner with the employees, engaging in small talk.  
The man walked up to Mulder. "Our case is blown. A wasted year. This guy is going to walk."  
The man and woman left.

Scully walked to the door of Dorland's office and out with a box of things taken from his office as Mulder and I entered.  
"Let's get out of here." Scully said.  
Mulder walked to Lauren still at the bureau. I followed. She was distraught."Lauren, it's over. We have to go." She looked around the room as Dorland entered. "What we're looking for isn't here."  
Lauren took a letter opener from the desk and smashed the glass in a picture frame and took out the photo.  
"Look! She isn't an agent. I've been more than cooperative and I don't want to be combative, but she has no right destroying my personal property." Dorland exclaimed angrily.  
Lauren took a painting from the wall and opened the back. Nothing but a painting. "Destroying property? What about that van that blew up and killed those servicemen?"  
"Oh, I don't know what you're talking about you stupid bitch!" Dorland shouted. Lauren rushed Dorland with the letter opener.  
"Lauren, No!" Mulder cried. Dorland pushed her away and he was pushed against the wall by Howard. The door slammed shut. Dorland started grasping at his neck. He couldn't breathe.  
"Don't kill him. Help us find it!" I shouted. Dorland slid to the floor. The track lighting exploded. The bulbs in the lamps exploded.  
Mulder grabbed Lauren and I. "Get down."  
The office was now dark and I heard Scully yelling. Pictures flew from the wall. Drawers opened and papers flew around the room. The letter opener hovered in front of Dorland's face. It turned and flew into the wall. It slit the wallpaper about two feet and stopped. The noise and flying papers died down and Scully bolted into the room.  
She looked around at the mess. "My God."  
Mulder walked across the wall to wall paper to the wall and took a floppy disk out from behind the wallpaper. "I guess what we're looking for is here."

A moving trailer was hitched to Lauren's car at her house. Scully, Lauren, Mulder, and I walked to it. Lauren was carrying a box.  
"The US Attorney's office is going after Dorland with everything they've got. Including the murder of Howard Graves." Scully told her.  
"I'll come back to testify." Lauren put the box in her trunk.  
"Where are you going?" Mulder questioned.  
"Away from here." Lauren got into the drivers seat and started the car. "Thanks." She drove off.  
"Boy, she's in a rush to get out of here." Mulder commented.  
"Out of here, or away from the ghost of Howard Graves?" Scully asked. We walked to the car.  
"Hey, Scully. Do you believe in the afterlife?" Mulder asked.  
"I'd settle for a life in this one." Scully remarked.  
"Have you ever seen the liberty bell?" Mulder inquired.  
"Yes." Scully replied as we got into the car and fastened our seat belts.  
"You know, I've been to Philadelphia a 100 times and I've never seen it." Mulder commented.  
"You're not missing much. It's just a big bell with a big crack, and you have to wait in a long line." I said.  
"Yeah," Mulder started the car and drove off. "but I'd really like to go. Besides how would you know? You've never been there either."  
"Pictures."  
"Why now?" Scully asked.  
"I don't know. How late do you think they stay open?" Mulder asked.


	7. Ghost in the Machine

Today I was wearing black jeans, black and white converse, and a red tshirt that had sleeves that went to just above my elbows with an intricate design on it.  
"Mulder." A man said as he walked up.  
"Jerry?" Mulder said, hugging him.  
"You're Dana Scully, right?" Jerry shook Scully's hand. "And you must be River. Jerry Lamana." He tried to shake my hand, but I just stared at it till he let it drop.  
"Jerry and I worked together in Violent Crimes." Mulder explained.  
"Worked together? What are you talking worked together? We were partners." Jerry told Scully before suddenly turning to me. "Why are you here?"  
"I work here." I responded.  
"You're fifteen." He said disbelievingly.  
I sighed. "I'm sixteen. And I got in because Skinner pulled some strings because he needed me for some reason."  
Mulder looked at Scully and I. Jerry still didn't believe me.  
"That's $8.50, please." The lunch cart guy said. Scully started to pay him.  
"So, Jerry, what are you doing here?" Mulder asked.  
"Looking for you. And I'm buying you three lunch."  
"No, really ..." Scully protested.  
"No, it's on me." Jerry payed Lunch Cart Guy. Good thing I didn't get anything.

Mulder, Scully, and I were listening to Jerry in the X files office.  
"Cause of death was electrocution."  
"And it wasn't accidental?" Scully asked.  
"It looks like some kind of elaborate booby trap, but we don't know a whole lot more. The building engineer just found him twelve hours ago." Jerry answered.  
"Who's running the investigation?" I inquired, trying to prove myself.  
"Do either of you know Nancy Spiller?" Jerry asked Mulder and Scully.  
"The forensics instructor at the Academy?" Scully asked before explaining to Mulder. "We used to call her the Iron Maiden." Even she isn't acknowledging me. I frowned. I thought I had made some progress with her.  
"On a good day. Well, anyway she's putting together the squad and, well, I took the liberty of mentioning your name." Jerry said to Mulder.  
"Look, Jerry. I'd like to help you out, but we're not on general assignment." Mulder told him.  
"Because of the X-Files?" Slightly desperate,Jerry spoke only to Mulder. "Look, the truth is, I could use a little help on this. I don't want to drop the ball on this one."  
"You won't drop the ball." Mulder reassured him.  
"Drake wasn't just a CEO of a Fortune 500 company. He was a good friend of the Attorney General's. Another feather in my cap would be really nice right now, because the one I got's looking a little mangy." Jerry said.  
"Yeah, but Jerry ..." Mulder stopped when Jerry interupted.  
"Look, I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

"How come you two went your separate ways?" Scully asked. This time I was walking ahead of them.  
"I'm a pain in the ass to work with." Mulder said.  
"Seriously."  
"I'm not a pain in the ass? We had different career goals. Jerry wanted the fifth floor." Mulder explained.  
"And you?"  
"I was gunning for a basement office with no heat or windows." Mulder stated.  
"I know where you ended up. What about Jerry?"  
"He ran into a little bad luck in Atlanta working hate crimes." Mulder answered.  
"What kind of bad luck?"  
"He misplaced a piece of evidence, bagged and everything. Sent it to the cleaners. By the time he got it back, a federal judge had lost both his hands and his right eye." Mulder told her.  
The elevator dinged and we entered.  
"Twenty-nine?" I asked suddenly unsure of myself.  
"Uh-huh." Mulder said and I pressed the button.  
"Going up." The elevator said.  
"Must be for the visually impaired." Scully said.  
"How do you like that? A politically correct elevator." Mulder said.  
"Third floor...Fourth floor..."  
The elevator slammed to a stop. I fell.  
Mulder helped me up. "You okay?"  
"Yeah. What was that?" I asked.  
Mulder tried buttons. Scully picked up a phone. As she did, it rang. She looked surprised.  
"Hello?" She answered. "This is Agent Dana Scully." The elevator began going up again, announcing floors."Uh, actually, I think everything's okay."

Jerry, Mulder, Scully, and I were looking at door computer controls in Drakes executive bathroom.  
"Someone has tampered with the servo. They switched the ground to the negative so that when he put the key in the lock..." Jerry trailed off.  
"...he completed the circuit." Scully finished.  
"It's fused. It takes a lot of juice to melt a steel key." Jerry commented.  
"And to throw a 180 pound man ten feet." Scully looked at the cracked mirror.  
"The, uh, servo switch. Could it have been moved manually?" Mulder asked.  
"We didn't find any prints in the surrounding area." Jerry said.  
Peterson entered the bathroom. "Sure it could have been switched manually. But whoever did it would have had to override the COS."  
"What's the COS?" Mulder asked.  
"The central operating system. It runs the building. It regulates everything from energy output to the volume of water in each toilet flush." Peterson answered.  
"This is Claude Peterson. He's the building systems engineer. He discovered the body." Jerry introduced. Yes I know.  
"If somebody wanted to override the COS, what would they ...?" Mulder trailed off.  
"Well, first he'd have to break the access codes which, well let's just say it wouldn't be easy." Claude replied.  
"Well, we're going to need a list of all the people with that kind of know how." Mulder said.  
"Well, I can tell you right now it'll be a pretty short list."  
"Would you be on it?" Mulder questioned.  
"Me? Hey, look. I'm just a glorified building super. All I do is monitor the system. Make sure it's functioning properly. Like when I saw the overload in Mr. Drake's office."  
"What about the phone lines? Does the COS monitor all phone calls?" Mulder inquired.  
"Yes it does. Why?"  
"I was just wondering." Mulder said.  
"Okay, um, look. Can I go now?"  
"Yeah." Jerry said. Peterson left. "Why'd you ask him about the phones?"  
"Phone's off the hook." Mulder hung it up. "Maybe Drake was talking to someone right before he did his Ben Franklin impersonation."  
"Taught him everything he knows." Jerry left.  
Mulder nodded and smiled tightly at Scully who looked a bit over it.

Mulder was looking around on his messy desk when there was a knock at the door. "Come in."  
"It's past three." Scully said as she entered.  
"I'm just looking for my profile notes." Mulder told her as I jumped down from my perch on a chair.  
"Maybe if you cleaned your desk more than once a year." Scully joked.  
"They were right here. I'm telling you." Mulder stated.  
"Come on. We're late."  
Mulder looked around one more time. I handed him his jacket and we left the room.

We were in the conference room and Mulder stared at the wall as Jerry read notes.  
"Now, there are a couple of elements for us to consider, here. Both the statistical rarity of homicidal electrocution and the complexity of the crime indicate a certain devious premeditation. After all, there are much simpler ways of killing someone. All of which leads me to believe that our guy was some kind of sociopathic game player - - maybe even a recluse since he designed a trap not only to avoid detection, but to avoid contact with the victim." Jerry said. I glared at him. That was Mulders.  
"Is that your profile?" Scully whispered to Mulder.  
"Forget it, no." Mulder whispered back.  
"Drake's final phone call supports this theory." Jerry played a tape.  
"At the tone, Eastern Standard Time will be 7:35 P.M." A computer voice said.  
"Drake's estimated time of death." Jerry said.  
"Why would Drake call for the correct time just before he died?" Agent Spiller asked.  
"It was an incoming call. From somewhere in the Eurisko building itself. Whoever set the trap wanted to make sure that Drake took the bait."  
"Excellent work, Agent Lamana."  
"Thank you."  
Mulder looked understandably unhappy.

Mulder approached Jerry in the FBI bullpen after telling me to wait by the wall. "Jerry, what the hell are you doing?"  
"Hey, don't get all bent out of shape."  
"Jerry, that was my profile." Mulder scolded.  
"Look, I didn't think you'd mind." Jerry started to leave, but Mulder stopped him. "Anyway, they were just notes. I filled in the blanks."  
"Jerry, you went into my office and you stole my work." Mulder argued.  
"Look, you're on this case 'cause I asked you to help me out, and you helped me out. What is the big deal." Jerry left as Scully entered.  
"What did he say?" She asked.  
"He apologized - in his own way." Mulder said as he motioned me over.  
"I just got off the phone with Peterson, the systems engineer." Scully handed Mulder a piece of paper.  
"One name? Brad Wilczek?" Mulder asked.  
"He said it would be a short list. And it's headline news how much this guy despised Drake." Scully said.  
"That just seems too obvious. To kill Drake would be so brazenly egomaniacal." Mulder said.  
"And fully consistent with Jerry's excellent behavioral profile." Scully said.  
"Fully." Mulder responded as we left.

Mulder, Scully, and I drove up to Wilczek's Country Club House. As we walked to the front door I noticed a camera following us.  
"So this is what a 220 IQ and a $400 million severance settlement buys you." Mulder commented.  
Scully knocked and Wilczek opened the door immediately. Which was strange.  
"Yes?" Wilczek asked.  
"Brad Wilczek?" Scully asked surprised. Mulder showed his badge. "We're with the FBI."  
"What took you guys so long? Oh, do you mind taking off your shoes?" Wilczek lead Mulder, Scully, and I barefoot through the house.  
"You can divide the computer science industry into two types of people - - neat and scruffy." Wilczek commented.  
"I take it Benjamin Drake fit into the first category." Scully stated.  
"Neat people like things neat. They wear nicely pressed suits and work on surface phenomena. Things they can understand. Market shares, and third quarter profits."  
"And you had a different vision for the company?" Scully asked.  
"I started Eurisko out of my parents' garage. I was 22 years old. I'd just spent a year following around the Grateful Dead. You know what Eurisko means?" Wilczek asked us.  
"That's from the Greek, isn't it? Um, "I learn things.' " Mulder said.  
"Not exactly. It means "I discover things.'" Wilczek corrected. Mulder shrugged. "Unfortunately, Ben Drake wasn't interested in discovery. He was a short-sighted, power-hungry opportunist." Wilczek went over to his computer. "Let me show you something - Smart Home. From this prototype, I have access to every square foot of my house. This place is as safe as Fort Knox and as energy efficient as your average igloo. We were two years ahead of Microsoft and Cebus when Drake, in his infinite wisdom, killed the program."  
"Mr. Wilczek, is this system related to the one in your corporate building?" Mulder inquired.  
"Variation on a theme."  
"In your opinion, how many people know the system well enough to override it?" Mulder questioned.  
"Finally the bonus question. Not many is the answer."  
"Could someone have hacked into the system?" Mulder asked.  
"Well, not your average phone freak, that's for sure. But there's plenty of kooks out there. Data travelers, Electro wizards, techno anarchists. Anything's possible." Wilczek answered.  
"Could you have done it?" Scully asked accusingly. She was really desperate to be right.  
"Of course. I designed the system. That's why you guys are here, isn't it? I'm your logical suspect."  
"You don't seem too worried." I murmered with a small smile. I could still breath normally around him.  
"It's a puzzle, Miss River, and scruffy minds like me like puzzles. We enjoy walking down unpredictable avenues of thought, turning new corners - - but as a general rule, scruffy minds don't commit murder." Wilczek told me.  
Mulder and Scully shared a look and I imagined ominous music playing. When we got outside I giggled.  
"What?" Scully asked.  
"Just stray thoughts." I said as I laughed again.

Mulder, Scully, and I were listening to tapes of Wilczek. Scully isolated the word "eastern." Jerry came in.  
"Will you give me a second?" Mulder asked me and Scully. We nodded. Mulder stepped outside the office with Jerry. I could faintly hear their conversation.  
"Look, I'm here with my hat in my hand. I screwed up - - I'm sorry." Jerry grinned. "What more can I say?"  
"All you had to do was ask. I would've helped you with the profile." Mulder told him.  
"You don't know what it's like, Mulder."  
"What *what's* like?" Mulder asked slightly angry.  
"You heard about Atlanta?" Jerry inquired.  
"Yeah." Mulder answered.  
"They got me on six month's probation. I got to file daily reports like some cherry new agent."  
"That was bad luck. That could have happened to anybody." Mulder said.  
"Not to you."  
"Don't run yourself down, Jerry. You're a good agent. We did some good work together." Mulder told him.  
"Let's face it. I was tagging along."  
"That's not how it was." Mulder protested.  
"How would you know, Mulder? You were too busy dazzling them up there on the high wire."  
"Mulder, take a look." Scully called. Mulder nodded for Jerry to follow, then came over to Scully and I. "We borrowed this from the voice biometrics lab at Georgetown." Scully indicated the voice analyzer. "It's a computer spectrogram capable of identifying individual speech patterns. Now this is the recording the Central Operating System made of the phone call Drake received just before he died."  
"At the tone, Eastern Standard Time will be 7:35 p.m."  
"And this we spliced together from a series of lectures Brad Wilczek gave at the Smithsonian last year." I added.  
"At the tone, Eastern Standard Time will be 7:35 p.m."  
"Now we'll stack them." Scully played them together.  
"Your saying this is the same person?" Jerry asked.  
"I'm saying that both voices are Brad Wilczek's. He may have disguised his voice electronically, but he couldn't alter the form that is unique to his own speech patterns." Mulder corrected.  
"Which means that he was the one that killed Drake. He had the motive and the means. And now we have the physical evidence." Scully drew circles on the computer screen with a hopefully dry erase marker. "Judge Benson lives in Washington Heights. I can get a warrant in less than an hour."  
"Someone has to make sure Wilczek stays put." Jerry said.  
"I'll go with you." Mulder offered. I just stared at Jerry.  
"No. Let me bring him in alone. I need this one, Mulder." Jerry pleaded.  
"All right." Mulder said.  
Jerry left, smiling.

Mulder and I were watching the video of Jerry falling with the elevator and of Wilczek watching.  
Scully entered. "I heard about Jerry. I'm sorry."  
"I don't think Wilczek did it." Mulder said.  
"What?" Scully asked.  
"It doesn't make sense. Why would he go back to Eurisko?" Mulder inquired.  
"To destroy evidence. To cover his tracks." Scully answered.  
"If you were going to destroy evidence, would you pose for the cameras?" Mulder asked incredulous.  
Mulder showed Scully the tape of Wilczek.  
Scully turned off the tape and knelt beside Mulder. "Mulder, you've been through a lot - - more than I think even you realize."  
"I think Wilczek is smarter than this." Mulder turned on the tape again.  
Scully took a deep breath. "He just signed a confession. How much proof do you need?"

Mulder and I drove up to Wilczek's house. Several men in suits were in the driveway.  
"Excuse me sir, ma'am, this is a crime scene. You're going to have to leave." One of the men said.  
"Yeah, I know." Mulder showed his badge. "I ordered the subpoena."  
"That subpoena's been obviated."  
"What are you talking about?" Mulder asked.  
"Unless you've got a code five clearance, I'm going to have to ask you to turn back."  
Mulder and I, who did not have a code five clearance, got back in the car and left. After that Mulder dissappeared for a couple of hours.

"They make me wear shoes all the time. What else do you want from me?" Wilczek groaned when Mulder and I came to see him.  
"I want you to tell me why you're willing to spend the rest of your life in prison for a crime you didn't commit." Mulder replied.  
"What are you talking about? I'm guilty." I rolled my eyes.  
"I know you're innocent. You're protecting a machine - the Central Operating System at Eurisko." Mulder accused.  
"If I'm protecting anything, it's not the machine."  
"Then what?" Mulder questioned.  
"After the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki - - Robert Oppenheimer spent the rest of his life regretting he'd ever glimpsed an atom."  
"Oppenheimer may have regretted his actions but he never denied responsibility for them." Mulder countered.  
"He loved the work, Mr. Mulder. His mistake was in sharing it with an immoral government. I won't make the same mistake."  
"But your machine killed Drake. And it killed my friend." Mulder argued.  
"I'm sorry about what happened. But there's nothing I can do."  
"And you talk about morality. You're afraid of the government but you're willing to accept the risk that your machine will kill again." Mulder demanded.  
"The lesser of two evils."  
"What about a third option? You created that machine. Now you tell me how to destroy it." Mulder tried to compromise.

Mulder, Scully, and I were walking outside the FBI building.  
"Wilczek can create a virus that will destroy the system." Mulder told Scully.  
"Mulder, don't you see, blaming the machine is an alibi, and a bad one." Scully said.  
"But it's the only thing that makes sense. The COS project was posting big losses for Eurisko and Drake was about to terminate the program." Mulder quipped.  
"So the machine killed Drake out of self-defense?" Scully asked scoffingly.  
"Self-preservation. It's the primary instinct of all sentient beings." Mulder seemed to ignore her condescending tone a lot.  
"Mulder, that level of artificial intelligence is decades away from being realized."  
"Then why was our government trying to usurp Wilczek's research?" Mulder inquired.  
Scully pulled Mulder aside. "Mulder, I think you're looking for something that isn't there. And I think it has something to do with Jerry. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea if you talked to someone."  
"You're probably right." Mulder started to leave.  
"Where are you going?" Scully called.  
"To talk to someone." Mulder answered as he grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him. Mulder took me to Wilczek's cell. Mulder and I entered and Mulder opened an early 90's laptop. "How much time do you need?"

Mulder opened the trunk, then turned when Scully pulled up. "Mulder!"  
Again Scully forgot me. Although maybe that was best. No one seemed to need my help. I just got into trouble and tagged. along. Though Mulder had been giving me weird looks all day.  
"Scully, what are you doing here?" Mulder asked.  
"Someone or something's been scanning my computer files. Tapping my phones. I traced the line. It came from somewhere in there."  
"It's the machine." Mulder stated.  
"How can we get in?"  
"You remember the Trojan Horse?" Mulder reached into the trunk and pulled out a VA license plate EURISKO.  
Mulder, Scully, and I were in the car at a metal gate entrance to the parking deck. After a moment the gate slid up.  
"Open, Sesame!" Mulder said, grinning. Scully was not amused.  
When we were directly under the gate, a red and white bar stopped us  
"Oh, what the - -" Mulder trailed off.  
I look uped and saw the gate with spikes crashing down on top of the car. I unbuckled and threw myself to the ground.  
"Mulder!" Scully cried.  
The horn was blaring as Mulder, Scully, and I crawled out the drivers side of the smashed car.I had to wait till they were out till I could squeeze into the front seats. Just more trouble.  
Mulder opened the hood and pulled the plug on the horn. "So much for the element of surprise. What do you say we take the stairs?"  
I nodded. Sounded good to me.

Mulder, Scully, and I were in the stairwell, Scully was in heels. I personally preferred my combat boots.  
"28 down, one to go." Mulder said right before the lights went out.  
"Oh, great. Mulder?" Scully questioned.  
After a pause Mulder shined a flashlight at Scully and I. "Trick or treat."  
Normally I would have laughed, but I wasn't in the mood.  
Scully sighed. The flashlight illuminated #29 as Scully reached for the doorknob.  
"No!" Mulder quickly stopped her.  
"What are you doing?" Scully asked.  
"I don't want to make the same mistake Drake made." Mulder explained as he took an insulated screwdriver out of his bag. When he touched it to the lock there was a huge flash and a lot of sparks. Scully jumped back as beeping sound started. Mulder tried the door. Still locked. He looked around and pointed at a security camera.  
"What are you looking at?" Mulder put a glove over the lens before he took the flashlight and looked around, then up at a ceiling vent. Then looked down at me.  
"Oh you're thinking what I'm thinking aren't you?" I asked.  
"Scully and I won't fit." He told me.  
I went over and Mulder boosted me up into the vent. I sighed as I pulled myself further in.  
"There should be a way for you to drop down and open the door." Mulder called up. I had left my jacket down there and was only in my red shortsleeved top. I crawled into an air duct tunnel and went left. It was too hot. Air began to blow as I continued crawling. Well that was taken care of. Soon I was havuing trouble crawling as debris flew past. I was suddenly blown backwards. I gasped.  
I managed to grab a corner, but my fingers slipped. I was about to slide into a large spinning fan! I sighed as I caught another corner. I accidentally dropped the flashlight which, fell into the fan knocking off a fan blade. I might be able to get through if I timed it right. I waited and counted how much time I would have before letting go. I slid past, but one of the blades caught the right side of my neck making a small cut. I wasn't sure how deep it was, but I continued crawling till I got out of the vent. The door was already open. He was probably in the control room. I headed off.  
When I reached the control room I could hear Peterson and Mulder.  
"Not bad, Agent Mulder. You know, I've been trying to access the CPU for the past two years. Now please, take out your gun and remove the clip." I peeked around the corner slightly before ducking back around. Peterson had Mulder at gun point. "Careful."  
"Defense Department?" Mulder questioned. I slowly slid down the wall and pulled out one of my daggers.  
"Lets just say our paychecks are signed by the same person. Now give me the diskette and step away from the console." I noticed I could see into the room in the window's reflection. Mulder didn't move. "You don't want to test my resolve, Agent Mulder." Mulder handed him the diskette. Scully was beside him.  
I spun into the room and grabbed Peterson putting my dagger to his neck. "Put down the gun."  
"Look, you may think you know what you're dealing with -"  
"Shut up and drop the gun." I interjected.  
"You wouldn't kill me. Espeacially not in front of your father.  
"Willing to bet your life on that?" I asked as I lightly cut his neck with the blade.  
He dropped the gun and I whipped my foot around and kicked it over to the wall behind Mulder. "You're making a mistake, River. Compromising your sworn duty. This operation is more sensitive than you can possibly imagine."  
"Don't listen to him." Mulder told me.  
"The technology in this machine is of enormous scientific interest." Peterson continued.  
"The machine's a monster, River. It's already killed two people. They won't be able to handle it any better than Wilczek did." Mulder told me.  
"Make no mistake ... *You* will be held accountable."  
"Dad, put in the disc." I said.  
Mulder quickly put in the disc.  
"What are you doing, Brad? Don't do this, Brad." The computer said before speaking gibberish. The screen filled with gibberish also. "Brad...Brad...Why?"  
The lights all came back on in the building.

"Are you okay?" Mulder asked me when we got outside.  
"I'm fine." I answered. He ran his fingers over the bandage on my neck.  
"You've been quiet ever since we took the case." He stated.  
"Sorry." I said. I would most likely explain later.


	8. Ice

Today I was wearing black jeans, converse, and a longsleeved purple top.  
On the TV, static came up followed by a short screen patch. A video came on of five men around a beer keg. A few of them were holding beer cups.  
"Team Captain John Richter here. It's been a couple of frustrating months but after a great deal of stick-with-it-ness, we're very proud to report that as of a half-hour ago, we surpassed the previous record for drilling down into an ice sheet."  
"All right!" A man cried.  
The men high fived and shook hands. Mulder paused the tape. He was sitting in front of the monitor and Scully was standing behind his desk, looking at a file. While I sat next to Mulder on the floor.  
"This team of scientists made up the Arctic Ice Core Project. They were sent to Alaska by the government's Advanced Research Project Agency nearly a year ago to drill into the arctic ice." Mulder told us. He stood and tore a paper from a printer as Scully sat down. "The samples they removed contained trapped gases, dust, chemicals... evidence that could reveal the structure of the earth's climate back to the dawn of man. Their work was a success, nearly completed. No reports or indications of problems of any kind until only a week later, this next transmission was received."  
He pressed a button on the remote control. On the monitor, a blue screen came up with the following:  
" AICP  
Arctic  
Ice Core  
Project  
Transmission received:  
November 5, 1993  
8:30 AM AST"  
Richter was sitting at the chair. I could only see the left side of his face. "We're not... who... we are. We're not... who we are. It goes no further than this. It stops... right here... right now."  
Scully watched, wide-eyed. The man rushed and pulled him off as the transmission broke into static.  
"What happened up there?" Scully asked.  
Mulder pressed another button on the remote and kneeled down next to Scully and I.  
"So far nobody's been able to reach to reach the compound because of bad weather. Obviously, they either think we're either brilliant or expendable because we've pulled the assignment." Mulder said.  
"Is it severe isolation distress?" Scully asked.  
"These were top geophysicists. They were trained and screened for this project in every way imaginable, including psychological makeup. We leave for Nome today." Mulder said. He stood and went to a map. Scully followed. He traced his finger from Nome to the Icy Cape. "We'll meet with three scientists familiar with the ice core project then head north up to the Icy Cape. The National Weather Service reports a three-day window to get in and out before the next arctic storm. Bring your mittens."  
He walked out behind Scully and I.

Men loaded a plane full of cargo as a man, Prof. Danny Murphy, sat and listened to his walkman in the back near the hangar door, sitting on a crate at The Doolittle Airfield in Nome Alaska.  
He spun around and stopped, having noticed Mulder, Scully, and I walking towards him. He pulled out the earphones and turned back to us. "Sorry. My team scored."  
"There's no football on Wednesday." Scully said.  
Mulder put down his bag. "Fouts retired in '87, didn't he?"  
"No, this is just some of my all-time favorite plays on tape. You three F.B.I.?" Murphy asked.  
"Agent Mulder and Agent Scully and this is River, you?" Mulder introduced. Mulder pointed to himself, then to Scully, then to me, then shook the man's hand.  
"Danny Murphy, professor of geology at U. C. San Diego."  
"San Diego? You get much of a chance to study ice down there?" Mulder questioned.  
"Just what's around the keg."  
Mulder laughed. A man and a woman walked towards us. The man was pushing some equipment on a roller.  
"Dr. DaSilva, Dr. Hodge?" Scully checked.  
"Yeah, sorry we're late." Hodge apoligized.  
Hodge shook hands with Mulder, then Scully, then Murphy. DaSilva did the same. Both skipping right over me.  
"Hi, Agent Mulder, Agent Scully..."Scully trailed off.  
"Mulder, nice to meet you."  
"How're you doing, Mister Mulder?" Hodge asked.  
"I'm River." I introduced when DaSilva stared at me. "I'm with them."  
"Can I see some identification?" Hodge asked.  
"What for?" Mulder inquired.  
"I just want to make sure we are who we say we are." Hodge replied. We all took out our ID. Hodge showed his to Murphy, DaSilva showed hers to Scully, Mulder, and I. "That's me."  
"That's you." Murphy showed his ID to him. "It's me."  
"It's you." Hodge agreed.  
Mulder showed his to Hodge. "It's me!"  
"Thanks a lot. Appreciate it."  
Mulder looked at DaSilva's ID. "It's you."  
"Well, now that we know who we are, anybody care to take a guess as to why we're going?" Hodge asked.  
"Well, three federal agents, a geologist, a medical doctor and a toxicologist. That should give us some idea what they're thinking." Murphy said.  
"I assume you all took a look at the tape." I said.  
DaSilva and Hodge looked at each other.  
"Something wrong?" Mulder asked.  
"Come on, you're F.B.I. You have to know more than we do." DaSilva said. Actually I probably did know more than her, but not of the case.  
Loud music blared from a jeep that pulled up. A man got out of the car and went around to the back. "You folks the ones going up to Icy Cape?"  
"Yeah." Mulder answered.  
"Then I'm the one flying you. My name's Bear. The plane's across the way, provisions are loaded. Grab your gear." He took a bag out and started walking.  
"Oh, could we see some credentials?" Hodge asked.  
Bear stopped, laughed and walked back over to Hodge "Credentials. The only credentials that I have is that I'm the only pilot willing to fly you up there. You don't like those credentials... walk."  
Bear continued walking. Murphy, Mulder, and I laughed to ourselves as we collected our gear.

Mulder pryed open the door and the rest of us followed in, all carrying flashlights and wearing parkas. We looked down to see Richter and the insane man lying on the ground, dead, guns near them.  
"Bear? See if you can get the power started." Mulder told him. I was a little shocked.  
"Anything to get out of here." Bear walked towards the back.  
"Where do we start?" Scully asked.  
"Body bags are on the plane." Hodge said.  
"Before we touch anything, we have to thoroughly document the scene." Mulder corrected.  
We started off towards the back.  
Scully took out her camera. "Flashing." She took a picture.  
Mulder opened up a cabinet that said "Ice Cores 3,175 - 3,260. Inside there were piles of ice inside containers. The ice was melting. Murphy walked up behind him.  
"That's what they were drilling for. Quarter of a million years melting away in a couple of days." Mulder mused.  
"I want to preserve some samples." Murphy said. He reached in and took a container.  
I heard the camera going off in the bathroom. DaSilva opened up a door and was startled to hear a bang and some rumbling.  
Mulder walked up to her. "It's the generator."  
"Oh." We walked in. The lights turned on and a growling was heard. DaSilva turned around and I saw a very upset looking dog. "Agent Mulder! Look out!"  
The dog jumped on Mulder, attacking him. Bear, Murphy and Hodge all ran in. Mulder struggled to his feet but was knocked down again.  
Bear ran over and grabbed the dog as Scully ran in. "Hold on."  
The dog knocked Bear down and bit his hand, breaking the skin. Mulder took a coat and wrapped it around the dog's head as Hodge got a needle.  
"Hold it down!" Hodge said.  
Hodge ran over and injected the dog with the needle. The dog whimpered as Bear applied pressure to the wound. Murphy, Mulder and DaSilva put the dog up on the table.  
"You okay?" I asked Mulder.  
"Yeah, he didn't break the skin. Bear, you okay?" Mulder asked. No, I thought. He isn't.  
"He got me." Bear said.  
"Take that jacket off." Hodge told him.  
"Just give me the stuff, I'll do it myself."  
"Is it rabies?" DaSilva asked.  
Hodge went over to the dog. Scully looked at the dog's paw.  
"I don't see any indication of glodal spasm or tetany. If it is rabies, it's certainly not a strain I'm familiar with." Hodge replied. He lifted the paw up to reveal black spots on the sweat nodes.  
"Look at this. Black nodules. Swollen lymph nodes." Scully informed us.  
"Symptoms of the bubonic plague." I murmered.  
"How do you know all this?" Scully asked.  
"I get bored too you know." I replied.  
"I'll do a blood test, we'll take it from that." Hodge interjected. Hodge walked away.  
Scully moved away some hair to reveal a place on the skin that had been irritated, hair torn off. "This dog has got a skin irritation on it's neck."  
"It looks like it's been scratching off it's own hair." Murphy said.  
A bump suddenly moved down across the part under the skin.  
"Look at this, look at this!" Scully called.  
Hodge ran over to look. The bump receded back away from view.  
"What the hell was that?" Murphy asked. We all looked at each other.

Scully stood up, writing on her notes. She walked towards Mulder and I. "From the autopsies, it's clear that these men killed each other. There are contusions around the throat areas of three men, evidence of strangulation." Mulder nodded. Bear started listening. "Richter and Campbell killed themselves. I also found tissue damage due to fever."  
"Did any of them have the black spots that the dog had?" Bear asked.  
"No. None of them had the black nodules." Scully answered.  
"So, uh, those spots didn't have anything to do with those guys killing each other, right?" Bear checked.  
Hodge walked in. "I wouldn't rule it out. I just reexamined the dog. The nodules are gone."  
"What could that mean?" Mulder asked.  
"Well, it could mean that the spots are a symptom of some disease at an early stage."  
Hodge, Mulder, Scully, and I walked over to the lab. Bear started dragging the bodies, now in bodybags, out. DaSilva walked over to the counter and picked up one of the guns, which was in an evidence bag. She moved it on top of a few other bags and picked up a clipboard.  
Mulder picked up a few clipboards around another table until he found a folder. Written on the folder was "We are not who we are" three times, and then it was written twice in big letters. "Danny?" He walked over to Murphy, who was looking at a paper, pen in mouth and listening to his tape player. "Danny." He waved his hand in front of Murphy's face, who was startled.  
Murphy took out his earphones. "Sorry. The play-off game against Miami, '82. Helps to get my mind off stuff."  
"My interpretation of satellite remote sensing photos is a little rusty." Mulder told showed Murphy an overhead picture of a vast arctic landscape.  
"Alright, this is the Icy Cape area. It approximates the depth of the ice sheet to be about 3,000 meters thick." Murphy explained.  
Mulder showed him another folder. "I also found this data and if I'm reading it correctly, the team actually found the ice sheet to be twice that depth."  
"That's very good. The numbers indicate the topography to be concave. Looks like they were drilling inside a meteor crater." Murphy said.

I walked over to Scully and Hodge who were sitting at a desk, microscope in front of them.)  
"No, you're wrong. That's impossible." Hodge said.  
"I analyzed two samples." Scully argued.  
Mulder walked over. "What'd you find?"  
"There seems to be a presence of ammonium hydroxide in Richter's blood sample." Scully told him.  
DaSilva walked in and over.  
"It's not possible. Ammonia would vaporize at human body temperature." Hodge argued again.  
"I checked all the air filtration systems. I found no evidence of any such toxins." DaSilva said.  
Murphy stood. "I have." We all looked back at him. "In the ice. And that's not all there is." He motioned for Mulder and I to come back to his desk as he took off his coat. Bear walked in and stood at the doorway. I stared unblinkingly at him. Something was wrong. "I found a high ratio of ammonia to water in the ice core. The earth's atmosphere could never have produced such high levels, not even a quarter of a million years ago. Look in the scope."  
Scully walked over as Mulder looked into the scope."Unless a foreign object was introduced into that environment."  
"Tell me that's not a foreign object." Murphy dared.  
I don't know how but somehow I knew that a small, skeletal shaped worm moveed around inside the sample.  
"Holy... Scully." Mulder motioned to Scully, who looked in the scope. Bear walked to the desk.  
"That same thing is in Richter's blood." Scully walked over to her microscope. "What if that single-celled organism is the larval stage of a larger animal?"  
Hodge looked up from his microscope and walked over. "That's kind of a leap, don't you think?"  
Mulder looked into the scope.  
"The evidence is there." I said.  
"Look you're just a kid. We don't need your opinion! Now shut it." Hodge snapped at me.  
"Maybe the organism in the ice core somehow got into the men." Murphy said before Mulder could tell the other man off.  
"Come on, nothing can survive in sub-zero temperatures for a quarter of a million years." DaSilva protested.  
"Unless that's how it lives." Mulder countered.  
Bear walked over. "Look-it, I don't see why you're squabbling over some bug. You said it yourself, Scully, your autopsy found those men killed each other. That's it. Now I say, let's just get the hell out of here."  
"I agree. We can have the bodies sent to a facility where they can make a definitive diagnosis in the event that something was missed, Agent Scully." Hodge said.  
"If those bodies are infected with an unknown organism, we can't take them back. We can't go back without proper quarantine procedures. We can't risk bringing back the next plague." Mulder protested.  
"Let's say you're right, they came down with something. We haven't and I ain't waiting around until we do." Bear started out, but turned back when he heard Hodge.  
"I think it's safe to go back. There's no reason why we'd be infected. We've taken all the necessary biological safeguards."  
"The dog did bite Bear." DaSilva said.  
"It jumped Mulder too!" Bear came back and tried to get in Mulder's face, but DaSilva got between them.  
"It didn't break the skin -" Mulder started.  
"Hey, look, there's only one way to proceed. A good doctor eliminates every possibility. We must determine if any of us is infected." Scully interjected.  
There was an uncomfortable pause.  
"Alright, parasitic diagnostic procedure requires that each of us provide a blood and a stool sample." Hodge said. I grimaced.  
"A stool sample?" Bear asked appalled.  
"Well, this kind of travel always makes that kind of tough... for me." Murphy said.  
Scully put some jars down on the counter.  
"Okay, anyone got the morning sports section handy?" Mulder asked.  
Bear picked up a jar. "I ain't dropping my cargo for no one." He threw the jar into the far wall. It shattered and DaSilva let out a little yelp while I jumped. "What I'm doing is getting my gear, getting my plane and flying the hell out of here." He started out.  
"You can't go, the dog bit you." Mulder told him.  
Bear turned around and got in his face. "I got hired to fly you up here and fly you back. No one said this might be part of the deal. So the deal is over." Bear walked out.  
"We can't let him leave without him being checked." Scully said.  
"Who's going to stop him?" DaSilva asked.  
"We have to. We can't risk infecting the population." Mulder insisted.  
"He gets on that plane, I'm gonna be on it with him."  
"Well, we don't have time to argue about it." Scully said.  
"Take a vote. Whoever believes we should confine Bear until he agrees to an examination?" Mulder asked. Mulder, Scully, Murphy, and I raised our hands. "All right." Mulder took out his gun as Bear walked in carrying two bags. "Bear, we just want to check you out. If we don't find any trace of the parasite or the virus, we'll all go."  
We all looked at Bear. He paused, looked at Mulder's gun, and walked over to the desk. "All right, give me the damn jar." He picked up the jar.  
Mulder started to put the gun away as Bear broke the jar over his head. Mulder screamed in pain a bit. Bear started to run but Scully tackled him. Mulder ran over to help hold him down as the rest watched.  
"Murphy, get a rope!" Mulder ordered.  
"Right." Murphy went off to get a rope.  
Bear grunted repeatedly and heavily as Mulder picked him up and slammed his head down on the counter, shoving off the glasses and papers with his head.  
Murphy ran back and gave him the rope. "Here!"  
Mulder started to tie him up as Bear started spasming.  
I noticed the little bump in his neck, moving around. "Oh no."  
"Get my bag!" Hodge told DaSilva.  
"What are you gonna do?" I asked.  
Murphy held Bear's head down as DaSilva came back with the bag. I hurried over and helped Murphy hold it down.  
"Scalpel, I'm cutting it out." Hodge said.  
"We don't know enough about it!" Mulder argued.  
"It's killing him!" Hodge shot back. Bear started spasming harder. "Scully, help me hold the skin."  
Mulder looked closer as Scully put on gloves and held the skin apart. DaSilva placed tools on the desk and I backed away about a foot.  
"Hold still, Bear!" Hodge said. Bear screamed as the scalpel went in. "Forceps!" DaSilva handed him the forceps. "Hold still, Bear, just another second. You're gonna be okay."  
Mulder looked on, disgusted, as Hodge started to pull the worm out of his neck. I stared horrified. Hodge pulled at the worm, which had attached itself to some muscle. Bear moaned as the worm was ripped off. Mulder ran to the next counter. The worm started spurting black drops on Bear's neck. DaSilva coughed as Mulder came back with a jar, which Hodge put the worm in. Mulder closed the lid and handed it to Murphy.  
He walked over to the radio and turned it on. "This is the A.I.C.P. Investigative Team calling Doolittle Airfield, come in."  
"D.A.F. responding."  
"This is Agent Mulder, we have a serious biological hazard. Request air pick-up and quarantine procedures, over." Mulder said. There was static. "Come in, Doolittle Airfield."  
"We copy, Agent Mulder. This area is under a heavy storm and no aircraft can get out for the next day. Maybe the military base in Kotzebue can set up a quarantine. Advise immediate evacuation, the arctic storm is bearing in your direction, over."  
"We were told we would have three clear days of weather, over." Mulder said.  
"Welcome to the top of the world, Agent Mulder. Over."  
Mulder walked back over to us. "Is Bear in any condition to fly? We don't get out in an hour, we don't get out for days."  
Scully and Hodge looked at each other. They were wiping the blood of their hands.  
Scully looked back at Mulder. "He's dead."  
Mulder walked over to Bear, still slumped over the table. I couldn't tear my eyes away. Blood was on the table as well as the jar with the worm inside it.

"Well, it's similar to a tapeworm in that it has a scolex with suckers and hooks." Hodge said.  
"So then it's familiar? Something you can deal with?" Murphy questioned.  
The jar was inside a freezer. Hodge closed the freezer door as Murphy and DaSilva stood behind him.  
"What?" DaSilva asked.  
"No. Very different from any organism, at least that I know of."  
Hodge walked over to Mulder, who was sitting at a desk next to where I was sitting against the wall.  
"Have you figured out how it's transmitted yet?" Mulder asked.  
"Exchange of fluids, touch, air, all of the above? I don't know."  
Scully walked in holding another jar. "All of the other dead bodies had the creature. This is the only one that's still alive."  
Every one, but me all walked over to the counter.  
"Were they all in the spine?" Mulder inquired.  
"No. It appears that they were in the hypothalamus gland deep in the brain." Scully answered. She set the jar down and filled it with ammonia.  
"Hypothalamus... what was that again?" Murphy asked.  
"It's a gland that secretes hormones although I don't know why a parasite would want to attach to it." Scully replied. She put the jar into the freezer and took off her coat. I was still wearing my combat boots - which I had changed into this morning - my black skinny jeans, a black longsleeved top, and my parka. She walked over to the counter as Hodge started walking to the freezer.  
"Hypothalamus releases acetlycholine, which produces violent, aggresive behavior. That might be a connection. Everybody that's been infected certainly seems to act aggresively. Maybe the worm feeds on the acetlycholine which floods our capacity to control violent behavior." Hodge said.  
"Well, a parasite shouldn't want to kill it's host." Scully said.  
"It doesn't kill you until it's extracted. Then it releases a poison."  
"You're saying it's possible that the worm makes you want to kill other people, which is maybe what happened to the first team?" Mulder checked.  
"Or what could happen to us." DaSilva pointed out.  
"Well, it's just a theory. We don't have any definite proof." Hodge said.  
"Except five dead men." Murphy said.  
"If the worm makes people violently aggresive then why did Richter and Campbell kill themselves?" Scully asked.  
"Maybe they did it to save us." Mulder said. Mulder walked off. There was an uncomfortable pause.

As the storm ravaged the base, Scully checked the bodys. She zipped up the bodybag as Mulder walked in.  
"I'm just, uh... double-checking. Making sure I didn't miss anything." She told him.  
"Just some sleep, huh?" Mulder asked. Well I probably wasn't going to get much sleep tonight.  
"Sleep. I'm so tired I can't sleep." Scully commented.  
"We're all wired and hypersensitive, it'll be good to get a fresh start in the morning." Mulder told her.  
"Mulder, I don't want to waste a second trying to find a way to kill this thing." Scully started out.  
"I don't know if we should kill it." Mulder said. I peered around the door as I stood up. Scully turned back around, shocked. "This area of the ice sheet was formed over a meteor crater. The worm lived in ammonia. It survived sub-zero temperatures. Theorists in alternative life-designs believe in ammonia-supported life systems on planets with freezing temperatures."  
"No."  
"The meteor that crashed here a quarter of a million years ago may have carried that type of life to earth." Mulder continued.  
"Mulder, that pilot developed surface symptoms within a few minutes. Within a few hours, that parasite had total control. What would happen if this got into the population? A city the size of New York could be infected within a few days." Scully protested.  
"Exactly. But what do we know about it? This organism might be lying dormant in another crater." Mulder countered.  
"Mulder, if we don't kill it now, we run the risk of becoming Richter and Campbell with guns to our heads."  
"But if we do kill it now, we may never know how to stop it or anything like it in the future." Mulder quipped.  
I walked away and leaned against the wall again. In the laboratory, Murphy put on his earphones and worked. Hodge and DaSilva stood around listening to Scully and Mulder, who I could hear yelling mostly illegibly in the background still.  
"Future? Mulder, how can you talk about the future when right now, there's..." Scully trailed off illegibly. "...or anyone has the right to?"  
"Do we have the right to destroy an organism which can provide..." Mulder trailed off as well.  
"Tell me it's hot in here." DaSilva told Hodge.  
"Don't worry, you don't have a fever. The heating system's malfunctioning. Outside, it's forty below and in here we're sweltering. Although the girl might have one. She hasn't taken of her coat yet." Hodge replied.  
"Can you hear what they're arguing about?"  
Hodge sat down as DaSilva took off her coat. "They're probably discussing their little government secrets."  
"You think they knew it was up here before we arrived?" DaSilva asked.  
"I'm sure of it." Hodge said and I heard myself laugh quietly. Or was that a sob? It felt like I wasn't in my body at the moment. I couldn't tell.  
"...about them posing a biological hazard!" Scully's voice broke into my thoughts.  
"You know, Bear's infected blood did get on Scully." Hodge said.  
"It also got on you." I mouthed the words as DaSilva spoke.  
They got up and walked towards the back. I followed slowly. Mulder and Scully charged into another room.  
"How do you know it can't be contained?" Mulder asked.  
"It can! By extermination, we should take those bodies, worms and all, outside and incinerate them!" Scully snapped.  
Hodge, Murphy and DaSilva walked in with me not too far behind. I leaned against the door jamb, staring at the floor.  
"Something going on we should know about? Agent Scully, you all right?" Hodge asked.  
"Yes, I'm fine. It's nothing." Scully said.  
"You seem a little bit stressed out." Hodge said.  
Scully nodded until she understood what Hodge was insinuating. "What the hell are you trying to say?" I laughed quietly. Again I wasn't sure if it was a laugh or a sob.  
Scully went to get in Hodge's face when Mulder got between them. "Let's all just settle down, it's been a long hard day. We're all tired and scared. Let's not all turn on one another."  
"At least not without a good reason." Hodge compromised.  
"Maybe we should all get some sleep." Mulder suggested.  
"You kidding? You think any of us could sleep right now? Guys, let's face it, we've got to check for spots. Any person or persons who has them should be confined. Are we agreed on that?" Hodge asked. I suddenly felt very scared.  
"Are you going to do the exams?" DaSilva asked.  
"No. We do them in front of each other. No secrets." Scully said.

Scully checked out DaSilva, who had her arms raised as Scully checked for spots. Scully lowered her arm, held her hand and smiled. They both sighed in relief.  
"Your turn, River." Scully said.  
I closed my eyes as I undressed and grimaced at their gasps at the bruises covering my body. "Just check me over. No questions. And no telling anyone else please." After a moment Scully assured me I was clear.

All six of us started off to our rooms, carrying flashlights down the hall.  
"Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite." Hodge said as he went into his room.  
"Yeah, good night." DaSilva murmered.  
Murphy and DaSilva went into their rooms. All three doors slammed shut at once. Mulder, Scully, and I went to where we would sleep. I would be with Mulder.  
"Good night, Mulder. River." Scully said slight concern in her voice when she said my name.  
"Good night, Scully." Mulder said. I didn't respond.  
"At least everyone's okay."  
"Don't forget, the spots on the dog went away." Mulder closed our door. I went over to the bed and curled up,leaving room for Mulder. I could see the notes Hodge was making in my head.

Mulder - attacked by dog

Scully - exposed to infected blood

Murphy - exposed to liquified ice core"  
Mulder put his gun down on the dresser and looked at the door.

Later, with the lights out, Mulder woke with a start just as I was dozing off. He immediately checked his gun. He looked for his shoes and I heard a door close. Mulder put on his shoes and shirt, took his gun and flashlight and left the room. I cautiously walked out of the room after putting my boots on. I still felt disconnected from my body.  
I could hear people talking so I followed the voices.  
"Mulder, what are you doing?" Scully asked as I walked in. The first thing I noticed was Murphy lying on the floor his neck slit wide open and he was covered with blood.  
"Murphy's dead." Mulder sounded distant and I couldn't tear my eyes away from Murphy.  
"You killed him." Hodge accused.  
"I found him like this. I heard one of the doors close, I came out to check it out. It's one of you." Mulder shot back.  
"He's lying." Hodge said. I chuckled softly. Yeah right. I did chuckle, right?  
"You could have done it and not even known." DaSilva said.  
"No, he said he didn't do it." Scully said.  
"I don't have any of the symptoms." Mulder added.  
"You checked him yourself, Hodge."  
"Yeah, six hours ago." Hodge said.  
"It was one of you!" Mulder started towards Hodge but Scully got between them. I flinched as Mulder pointed his gun at Hodge and DaSilva.  
"Stop it! Just stop it, shut up!" Scully said. Hodge and Mulder glared at each other. "Mulder, just put the gun down and let Hodge give you a blood test."  
"What, so he can doctor the results? I'm not gonna let him stick a needle in me! He could be infected!" Mulder shouted.  
"He has to be confined now!" Hodge added.  
"Then just turn around and let us take a look at your neck!" Scully said. Everything was all distant still.  
"I'm not turning my back on anyone! As far as I'm concerned, you're all infected!" Mulder yelled. Even me? Mulder walked back slowly, waving his gun around. Hodge inched over to the counter.  
"Hodge is right, we oughta lock him up!" DaSilva shouted.  
Hodge grabbed a crowbar and lurched a bit. My eyes widened. Mulder pointed his gun at Hodge to stop him.  
Scully pointed her gun at Mulder. "Mulder!" I felt like I was about to cry.  
"Scully, get that gun off me!" Mulder told her.  
"Mulder, you have to understand!"  
Mulder pointed his gun at Scully. "Put it down!"  
"You put it down first!"  
"Scully! For God sakes, it's me!" Mulder yelled.  
"Mulder... you may not be who you are." Scully said quietly.  
Mulder came to his senses and lowered the gun. They led Mulder to another room and I watched as he stepped into a dark storage room. He turned on the light as Scully stood in the doorway. He faced her. "In here, I'll be safer than you."  
Scully slid the door shut and bolted it. She leaned against the door, thinking about what she had done. She started off, looked back at the bolt, then walked off. I followed her to the lab and I curled up against the door as soon as I got there. DaSilva was asleep at the desk. Gun in hand, Scully walked over quietly and moved the back of her shirt down, trying to get a look at her neck. Hodge came in and grabbed her hand. DaSilva woke up with a short scream.  
"What were you doing?" Hodge asked.  
"You know what I was doing." Scully said. I laughed or sobbed quietly again.  
"You know, I can't help thinking, Agent Scully, that you're the only one with a gun. If you get infected, we don't stand a chance, do we?" Scully looked at them, took out the clip, took out her other gun, took out that clip, and placed the guns on the counter. "Okay."  
Scully went to the main door and threw the clips away.  
"Was there something there?" DaSilva asked nervously.  
"You're okay, Nancy. We're all okay. Now is not the time for the four of us to break down and turn on each other." Hodge said.  
"There's five of us." Scully told him.  
"Mulder isn't one of us anymore." I glared at Hodge.  
"If Mulder is infected, it's not his fault! We can't turn our backs on him now, he needs us to help him!" Scully cried.  
"She's right. Who knows what prolonged exposure to the parasite could do to him? It could damage him to the point of permanent psychosis." DaSilva agreed. If you hurt Mulder you'll have a permanent psychosis, I thought visciously.  
Scully started off but Hodge grabbed her arm. "But if he is infected, he doesn't go back! I won't risk the possibilities!"  
Scully went over to the radio and turned it on. "This is A.I.C.P. calling Doolittle Airfield, please come in." There was static. "This is the Arctic Ice Core Project sending a general distress call, please respond!"  
More static.

Hodge and DaSilva looked through microscopes. Hodge was looking at the larvae. I hadn't moved an inch from my previous position. Everyone had quieted themselves after a while so I was guessing they thought I was sleeping.  
"Nanc, you wanna put a drop of the uninfected blood on the slide of the blood drawn from the pilot?" Hodge asked.  
"Run that by me again."  
"Put the uninfected blood on the infected blood." Hodge stressed.  
Nancy got up and took the slide over to a tube rack full of vials. Hodge looked over her shoulder. DaSilva put another drop of blood on the slide. Hodge looked at it and smacked her on the butt with the clipboard. Scully walked in. "No, damn it! What did I just get through telling you? You just infected already infected blood, now we have to start all over again."  
"I made a mistake, you don't have to yell at me."  
"Wasted hours of work..." Hodge trailed off.  
Hodge started off, DaSilva followed. "Well okay, well then maybe you could just do it by yourself! Damn it! God, I'm not your assistant!"  
'Oh, get out of here..."  
"All you do is just..."  
Scully looked through the microscope and I knew she was seeing that the larvae were attacking each other viciously. Suddenly, they both went limp and died. Hodge walked back in. "Hodge."  
"What?"  
"Come take a look at this. The larvae from two different worms killed each other." Scully said. Hodge looked in the microscope. Scully went over to the freezer and moved one of the jars from the bottom shelf right next to the other one. The worms tried to get at each other through the glass. DaSilva and Hodge went over and looked. "An individual worm will not tolerate another invading it's host. It does to the invader what it did to humans. It makes them kill."  
"It doesn't make sense for a species to kill it's own, it needs another to procreate." Hodge said.  
"Worms are hermaphroditic. It can reproduce itself." DaSilva chimed in.  
"Look at the evidence in the microscope. This thing does not like company." Scully argued.  
"So what are you saying? The way to kill it is to introduce another worm into the already infected body?" Hodge asked.  
Scully nodded.

A short while later, Hodge injected a painkiller into the dog's ear to numb it. Scully, holding the worm with forceps, put the worm down on the dog's ear. The worm crawled inside and the dog started whimpering soon after. They put it back in it's cage. The dog's paws started shaking until the dog grew quieter. It layed down on it's belly and whimpered a bit more. Hodge opened the door and took the dog's heartbeat with a stethescope. "Sounds okay."

Scully put a bowl full of dog food on the ground and the dog came over and started eating. Scully pet it as DaSilva stood off to the side. I got up and walked over to the dog and began petting him. Both of them jumped when they saw me there.  
Hodge came in. "It passed the worms in it's stool. They're dead."

Scully unbolted the door to Mulder's makeshift cell. Hodge stood against the door.  
"I want to talk to him first. Try to make this voluntary." Scully said.  
"What?" DaSilva asked.  
"You can't go in alone." Hodge disagreed.  
"If anything happens, you come inside. I can't do this to him until I'm sure." Scully said.  
"Besides she won't be alone." I told them without emotion in my voice.  
The door slid open and Mulder got to his feet quickly, flinching. "It's just you?"  
"And River." Scully said. The door slammed shut. Scully turned on the light.  
"It's one of them." Mulder said.  
"No one's been killed since you've been in here."  
"So?" Mulder asked.  
"We found a way to kill it. Two worms in one host will kill each other."  
"You give me one worm, you'll infect me." Mulder told her.  
"If that's true, then why didn't you let us inspect you?" Scully whispered.  
"I would have but you pulled a gun on me. Now I don't trust them. I wanted to trust you." Mulder whispered back. I pulled the neck of Scully's shirt down and she stared at me before letting me look. Clear. I shook my head at her.  
"Okay. But now they're not here." Scully told him.  
Mulder turned around. I pulled down the back of his shirt and inspected his neck. No bump. I turned to leave but Mulder grabbed me. I gasped in shock. I started to turn my head but he gently pushed me back to facing forward. He pulled down the back of my shirt and inspected me. When I turned around again he shook his head at me.  
Mulder, Scully, and I walked out.  
"We just examined him. He's... uninfected." Scully said.  
"So are they." Mulder said pointing to Scully and I.  
"Which means that it must be one of you." Scully said as I went over to the wall and leaned against it. I was detached again.  
"All right. Go over to the main building. I'd like to check him myself. Then he can examine both of us. Wanna lead the way?" Hodge asked.  
Mulder walked forward slowly. Hodge and DaSilva started behind him then looked at each other. Hodge grabbed Mulder and slammed him into a few boxes. DaSilva grabbed Scully and I, threw us into the room and bolted the door. I looked through a small hole in the wall while Scully tried the door. Mulder grunted and screamed as Hodge bent his arm back in a hammerlock and put on a chokehold with the other arm. DaSilva took out the needle and prepped it but it knocked down when Mulder pushed Hodge back into her. Mulder then ran Hodge back into the loading doors, but Hodge stayed hooked on. He wrestled Mulder to the floor as Scully picked up a large drill bit on the floor and started trying to break open the door.  
"Get the worm!" Hodge called.  
"Bastards! No!" Mulder shouted. DaSilva got the worm with the forceps and dangled it above Mulder's ear. She held his head down by the hair. "Ah! Stop... no!"  
Hodge looked at DaSilva and I noticed a bump moving around on the back of her neck when I followed his gaze.  
"Oh my God!" Hodge exclaimed. He pushed her down across the room. Mulder rolled to his feet as Hodge backed away from DaSilva. She slowly got to her feet. "Mulder! It's her!"  
DaSilva made a break for the door, slamming Mulder into the boxes again. Mulder got up and he and Hodge ran to the door where Scully and I were.  
"Scully! River!" Mulder opened the door. "It's DaSilva!"  
Scully dropped the drill bit and we ran after DaSilva. Hodge picked the worm up off the floor with the forceps. DaSilva ran into the lab, screaming hysterically. Mulder ran in ahead of me as DaSilva took the gun in the evidence bag out of the drawer. She took the gun out and Mulder tackled her as she fired at him. Scully ran in and we held her down. Hodge walked in slowly.  
"Hodge! Now!" Scully cried. Mulder held up her head so Hodge could put the worm in. "Mulder! After this, there won't be any left!"  
"Do it!" Mulder said.  
"Nooooo! No! No!" DaSilva cried.  
Mulder layed her head back down and Hodge assumably put the worm in. DaSilva's screams changed to choking and coughing as she started spasming on the floor. She moaned repeatedly.  
"It's all right. It's all over. It all stops right here. Right now." Scully said.

DaSilva was in a containment suit and being wheeled into an ambulance by two men. They rolled past Mulder, Scully, Hodge, and I. Hodge closed the door and the ambulance drove off with her inside. "She's being put in quarantine along with the dog. We'll keep her there until we're sure she won't infect the rest of the population. Meanwhile, our tests came back normal so we've been released. Plane ready. Take you as far from the ice as you want to go."  
"I'm going back to the site. This time, I'm going fully prepared with proper equipment. There's still a lot of research to be done on it's genetic structure, on it's origin..." Mulder said, but Hodge interrupted him.  
"Wait, Mulder. Don't you know?"  
'Know what?" Mulder asked.  
Hodge looked at Mulder, Scully, and I in a sort of disbelieving way. "45 minutes after they evacuated us, they torched the place. There's nothing left."  
"Who did that?" Scully exclaimed.  
"The military, centers for disease control... you oughta know. They're your people." Hodge walked away. I found myself kinda glad I didn't have to put up with him anymore.  
"It's still there, Scully. 200,000 years down in the ice." Mulder said.  
"Leave it there." Scully picked up her bag and started off.  
Mulder looked in the direction of the building. Scully and I looked at him. He picked up his bag and we walked off.


	9. Space

Today I was wearing my combat boots, a black top, black skinny jeans, and a leather jacket.  
Mulder and Scully were both eating sunflower seeds outside on the steps of the building while I walked beside Mulder.  
"What did the note say?" Scully asked.  
"Just that they worked for NASA." Mulder handed over the note. "They wanted to talk to somebody from the FBI."  
"Why the cloak and dagger routine?"  
"I have no idea." Mulder told her.  
"Think it's a crank?"  
"It's beginning to look that way." Mulder responded.  
A girl walked past us, then turned and came back looking very incognito. "My name is Michelle Generoo." She shook Mulder's hand.  
"Fox Mulder..." Mulder introduced.  
"I sent you the note." Michelle said as she shook Scully's hand.  
"Hi. Special Agent Dana Scully." Scully replied.  
"I'm sorry to have to take these precautions. I flew up from Houston this morning. I work at the Space Center there." Michelle said, skipping over me.  
"I'm River. Not that you bothered to ask. I'll be over here while the 'adults' talk." I snapped before walking down the steps and over to a tree which I climbed and perched on a branch. I could still hear everything they were saying.  
"In what capacity?" Mulder questioned, staring after me.  
"I'm the Mission Control Communications Commander for the Space Shuttle Program." Michelle answered slightly stunned. It seemed I had gone from being dettached to being angry and way more emotional than normal.  
"What brings you to Washington?" Scully inquired.  
"I have reason to believe there may be a saboteur at work inside NASA."  
"Do you have evidence of sabotage?" Mulder asked.  
"I don't know. I may. Two weeks ago, a shuttle mission was scrubbed three seconds before lift off when an auxiliary power unit valve malfunctioned. If the flight had not been aborted, there was a great chance the liquid fuel system and the Orbiter would have exploded on the launch pad. This was sent to me in the mail." Michelle opened a briefcase and removed some pictures. "It's a material analysis that shows deep grooved scoring marks inside this APU valve. Marks that could have caused a malfunction."  
"Evidence of tampering?" Mulder inquired.  
"That's what it looks like, but.. according to the person who gave me your names you have expertise in unexplained phenomena, and what's unexplainable is how and when anybody could have done it."  
"How do you mean?" Scully asked.  
"The valve is made of ferrocarbon Titanium. To score, that material would take extreme temperatures : launch pad temperatures. If anyone at NASA were to take a look at that analysis, they would say that it would be impossible for anyone to do that type of damage undetected."  
"Do you have any idea who may have sent that to you?" Scully asked.  
"No. No idea. But I can tell you that the official analysis of the malfunction was simple mechanical failure."  
"Does anybody share your suspicions?" Mulder inquired.  
"If they do, they're not talking to the FBI. I believe in the space program. I believe in the people who run it, but there's another launch window tomorrow and my reasons may sound selfish, but my fiancee is a shuttle commander on that mission."  
Mulder and Scully looked at each Michelle walked off they came over to my tree.  
"Is there something you want to talk about?" Mulder asked me, motioning for me to come down. I jumped down and he shot me a dissapproving look.  
"No." I replied. I wasn't ready.

The next day we went to the Houston Space Center. I was wearing black skinny jean, combat boots, and a deep blue dress that went to just above my knees in the front and down to the back of my knees in the back, and I had a black fishnet type thing on my arms that went down to my fingers and looped around the middle one.  
Mulder, Scully, and I were riding through the halls on one of those airport golf cart things.  
"Why would somebody want to sabotage the Space Shuttle?" Scully asked.  
"Well, if you were a terrorist, there probably isn't a more potent symbol of American progress and prosperity. And if you're an opponent of big science, NASA itself represents a vast money trench that exists outside the crucible and debate of the democratic process. And of course there are those futurists who believe the Space Shuttle is a rusty old bucket that should be mothballed. A dinosaur spacecraft built in the 70's by scientists setting their sights on space in an ever declining scale." Mulder explained.  
"And we thought we could rest easy with the fall of the Soviet Union."  
"Not to mention certain fringe elements who accuse our government itself of space sabotage. The failure of the Hubble Telescope and the Mars Observer are directly connected to a conspiracy to deny us evidence." Mulder continued.  
"Evidence of what?" Scully asked.  
"Alien civilizations." Mulder stated.  
"Oh, of course."

Mulder, Scully, and I were walking down the corridor with guide, Mulder looking at framed posters. "Wow, look at that – Gemini 8."  
"What?" Scully questioned.  
"Well, the man we're gonna see? Col Marcus Aurelius Belt nearly died on that mission. Had to make an emergency landing right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean." Mulder told her.  
"You remember all that stuff?" Scully asked, shocked.  
"You never wanted to be an astronaut when you were a kid, Scully?" Mulder asked.  
"Guess I missed that phase." Scully said as we came to Col. Belt's office.  
Sculy knocked on the door with Belt's nameplate.  
"Come in." Belt called from inside and Scully opened the door.  
"Col. Belt, I'm Special Agent Dana Scully." She shook Belt's hand as he rose and put on his jacket. "And this is..."  
"Col. Belt. Fox Mulder." Mulder extended his hand. "I'm a big fan. It's an honor to meet you. Y-you were a big hero to me when I was a kid."  
"Thank you." Belt said.  
"I-I stayed up all night when I was 14 to watch your space walk." Mulder added.  
Belt looked a little uncomfortable. "Well, now it's like a stroll around the block. So... how can I help you?" We all sat down, Mulder shifting around, obviously excited in the presence of his hero.  
"This found its way to the FBI." Scully handed Belt a picture that Michelle gave them. "Do you recognize it?"  
"Sure, it's an auxiliary power unit valve." Belt handed the picture back.  
"Do you have any reason to believe that the damage done to it was in an effort to sabotage the Space Shuttle Program?" Scully asked.  
"No."  
"Do you have any reason to suspect sabotage at all?"  
"No reason whatsoever. And if you have any respect for this program and for the people who have devoted their lives to it, you'll be careful to whom you make those accusations."  
Mulder looked very uncomfortable now.  
"Looking at this evidence, sir, would you consider postponing the shuttle flight until a full investigation could be conducted?" Scully requested.  
"Look, I don't know where you got this specious artifact, but I can assure you every precaution has been taken to rectify the problem. We've been waiting two weeks for a window to initiate this mission. We've got a payload to deliver."  
"Col. Belt, has an internal investigation ever been done on this matter?"  
"The part you have here, has been installed, inspected, and designed by over 100 highly trained technicians. With the security measures we take, it would be virtually impossible for one man working by himself, or two or four men, to do what you are suggesting. I can assure you there isn't a person in this facility that doesn't want to see that shuttle go into space, complete its mission, and come back like winged victory herself. And in about ten hours, God willing, you're gonna see just that."  
Mulder grinned as we stood up. "Do you think there would be a problem with us watching lift off from Mission Control?"  
"Well, being that you'd probably go over my head anyway, please, be my guest."  
Mulder shook his hand again, still in awe. "It was an honor, sir."  
Scully shook the Col. hand next. "Thank you." Scully and I followed Mulder out the door. "Didn't you want to get his autograph?"

Mulder, Scully, and I were with some tech guy in some technical mechanical place.  
"Where did you say you got this?" the guy asked looking at the picture.  
"It came to us anonymously." Scully told him.  
"Well this is an APU valve all right, but this doesn't make sense."  
"What doesn't make sense?" Scully asked.  
"This scoring here. This valve is made out of ferrocarbon titanium. Its -"  
"You didn't order the analysis?" Mulder interjected.  
"No, I've never seen this before. But we're on outside contract to NASA. They may have ordered it."  
"But as a matter of course wouldn't you order a material analysis if a part malfunctioned?" Mulder questioned.  
"Every shuttle has flown with that same APU valve. We haven't had a problem. To do an analysis and redesign would delay the program for months, not to mention the cost."  
"Is it conceivable that in order to avoid these delays, the program is being pushed ahead without proper safety precaution?" Scully asked.  
"Look, there are about 17000 things that can go wrong with the shuttle, and about 17000 people who make sure they don't."  
I looked up and saw Belt standing above us on a balcony, listening.  
"And who makes the final determination as to its safety?" I asked.  
"Oh we make a recommendation, but ultimately, the decision is Col Belt's." The tech guy said.  
Belt left when he saw me watching him.  
"Thank you." Mulder and Scully said before we started up the stairs to the balcony.  
"What do you think?" Scully asked quietly.  
"I can't believe how much faith we put in machines." Mulder said.  
"You think Col Belt knows more than he's saying? That he lied about his knowledge of a saboteur?" Scully inquired. I glared at her as her gaze skipped right over me.  
"I can't believe that Col Belt would endanger the lives of those astronauts knowing that something might go wrong. He was an astronaut himself." Mulder said.  
"So you think this x-ray is bogus?"  
"God, I hope so." Mulder said.

I wandered around while Mulder and Scully went to wherever Michelle was. Right now, I was wavering between being extremely upset at the girl and completely dettached. I texted Mulder I would be waiting in the car and then proceeded outside and into the backseat where I let myself fall asleep.

Mulder, Scully, and I were walking down the corridor of a nice hotel. I was a bit disoriented since I had just woken up.  
"I have to admit, that fulfilled one of my boyhood fantasies." Mulder said.  
"Yeah, it ranks right up there with getting a pony and learning how to braid my own hair." Scully teased.  
"Come on, Scully. You have to admit that was exciting. Mission control..." Mulder playfully punched her arm. "...countdown."  
I rolled my eyes when Michelle came running up behind us. "Mulder! Wait! Something's gone wrong."  
"What happened?" Mulder asked as my irritation faded at her words.  
"Something's wrong with the shuttle. We had some trouble with the solid rocket boosters, but we were able to fix it. We changed watch, I went home to try to get some sleep. I got a phone call twenty minutes ago. Communication with the shuttle had gone down. Come on. We've got to get back to Houston." Michelle said.

Mulder, Scully, and I followed Michelle in our car on the wet two lane road. Scully tried to get a radio station - all static.  
"They have a press blackout in effect. Chances are, the media doesn't know about it." Mulder said.  
"Do you think this is sabotage?" I asked.  
"I don't know. Things go wrong all the time." Mulder replied.  
"Yeah, but they usually fix them, right?" Scully inquired. Of course they did.  
"Usually." Mulder answered.  
"She's turning."  
Suddenly, Michelle veered off the road and her car flipped over. Mulder, Scully, and I pulled up behind the overturned car and got out.  
"Michelle! I can see her." Mulder said.  
"Michelle!" Scully called.  
"Heeelllp!" Michelle cried.  
Mulder kneeled at the passenger side of the overturned car. "You all right?"  
"I'm stuck!"  
"Can you move?" I inquired before Scully could.  
"Just get me out of here. I'm wedged in!" Michelle said. Mulder and Scully ran around to the driver's side of the car.  
"You all right?" Mulder asked.  
"I'm wedged in!"  
Mulder reached in to the car. "C'mere. Can you push with your legs?"  
"Be careful." Scully murmered. No kidding!  
"Just get me out of here!"  
"Okay, all right. Come on. Okay. Come on. Okay." Mulder said as he pulled Michelle out.  
"It's okay. Now don't try to move." Scully told her.  
"Oh, I got to get back to Houston." Seriously? That's what she's worried about?  
"What happened?" Mulder asked.  
"I don't know. Something came at me in the fog, and the next thing I knew I was upside down." Michelle answered.  
"Was it some kind of an animal?" Scully questioned.  
"No. It had a face. It was... it was grotesque. I don't know what it was." Michelle looked slightly scared. Mulder helped her stand, arms around her.  
"You okay?" I asked.  
"Yeah." Michelle looked at me, confused. "I thought you didn't like me."  
I frowned. "That doesn't mean I would want you to be hurt. Besides I'm just irritated with you for resons that probably have no justification. I'll try to lighten up."  
Michelle gave me a small smile.

Mulder, Scully, Michelle, and I entered the Mission Control Room.  
"What's happening?" Michelle asked.  
"We have a malf in the OMS and RCF systems. They can't get the Orbiter into attitude rotation. Temperature in the cabin is approaching 103 degrees and they have downlink transmission problems... what happened to you?" One of the guys said.  
"I had an accident. What's their position?"  
I looked at the screen and instantly calculated their position. "Just over Eastern Africa."  
Michelle looked confused, but continued talking to everyone. "Try patching them into the Saychelles Tracking Station." She spoke on the headset. "Hang in there OTC."  
Mulder explained to Scully what they were talking about. "The Orbiter maneuvering system has malfunctioned. Without it they can't rotate the shuttle. They need to rotate it away from the sun to keep the Orbiter cool."  
"We've got a drop in cabin pressure, 21 kilopascals and declining." I continued at the techman's request.  
"They're going to burn up." Michelle said as the techman - David - got out of his seat and motioned for me to sit down. I was confused, but decided it might be kinda fun.  
"Where's Col. Belt?" Mulder asked.  
"He's on his way." David responded.  
"Damn it! What happened when they went to back up?" Michelle asked.  
"Back up system failed to respond."  
"Well, what about telemetry? Can we auto-activate their systems from down here?"  
"We cannot auto-activate! It's like someone's interfering with the telemetry, messing with the uplink communications from this end." I told her calmly.  
"Can you trace it?" Michelle asked me.  
"With what you have here...it'd have to be a digital processor." I answered. "If you had different computers I'd be able to trace it in under five minutes. They'd have to be in the data banks."  
"Where's that?" Mulder asked as I gave David his seat back.  
"Come on." Michelle said. Mulder and Scully flung their trenchcoats on a console counter and followed Michelle up and out of the room. With me beside Mulder.

Mulder and Scully, went into the room first guns drawn, with Michelle between them. While I was behind with my daggers. A second later, the lights went out.  
The emergency lights came on. I could see someone in the corner.  
"I'm a federal agent. Come on out of there." Mulder ordered. Scully and Michelle joined Mulder and I. A computer tech geek with glasses came out of the corner. "What are you doing in here?"  
"I work here."  
Michelle checked him. "Let me see your clearance."  
"A sensor went off. There was a malfunction in one of the telemetry processors." He said showing his clearance.  
"Did you find it?" I asked.  
"No."  
"Did you see anybody else in here?" Mulder questioned. CTGG shook his head and the lights came back on. "Okay, call security. I want a search of the premises. I don't want anybody coming in or out of this building who doesn't have proper clearance."

Michelle, Mulder, Scully, and I entered the control room.  
"Somebody's jamming our transmissions." Michelle said.  
"Who do you mean?" Col. Belt asked.  
"Somebody or something is interfering with our ground communications and scrambling our uplink telemetry. The shuttle is not responding to override signals."  
"I'm going to let them fly by wire. I'm cutting off telemetry."  
"It might not work. We might lose contact for good."  
"We have to give it a chance to work."  
"We have to try to bring them down."  
"We have to give them control of the ship, take a chance they'll be able to perform that rotation maneuver and deliver their payload."  
"What if they can't? We could be stranding them up there."  
Belt paused a moment. "Abandon telemetry. Go to fly by wire mode."  
"They're cutting off ground control to the Orbiter. The astronauts will be flying the shuttle all by themselves." Mulder explained to Scully.  
"Is it going to work?" Scully asked. Mulder looked doubtful.  
"OTC, this is Houston. How's the weather up there?" Michelle spoke into the comm.  
"Sunny and warm Houston. What's the forecast?" OTC responded.  
"OTC, we're going to fly by wire mode. We're going to abort ground control momentarily to see if you can bring those systems back up."  
"Roger that, Houston. And leave the driving to us."  
"David... you take care." The transmission was broken.  
"What just happened?" Scully inquired. I gave her a look that said 'wake up, Scully'.  
"They cut off contact with the shuttle." Mulder explained.  
Everyone waited.  
"45 seconds. If they were able to execute they'd have done it by now." I said.  
"Standing by." Belt said.  
"60 seconds." Michelle spoke.  
"Go to reestablish uplink communication."  
"Video signal's failed on them." A tech said.  
"OTC, this is Houston. Do you copy?" Michelle paused. "OTC , this is Houston. Where are you?"  
"Howdy-do, Houston. Looks like we finally got this bird to fly right." OTC responded. Everyone clapped and smiled, even Scully!  
"OTC, do you hear that?" Michelle asked.  
"Music to our ears."  
"Cabin temperature stabilizing." David - not Michelle's fiance - said from his chair.  
"OTC, this is Mark Belt in Houston. How's the crew holding up?" Belt inquired.  
"They're looking good, sir."  
"Y'all get some rest. We'll get back to work at about 0700."  
"Roger that, Houston."  
"Let's get to work on that telemetry problem. We got a big day ahead of us." Belt ran his hands down his face.

Belt was at the podium at the NASA press conference, Mulder, Scully, Michelle, and I watched from the side.  
"I know you have a lot of questions, and I'll get to them." Belt started.  
"How did he know what he did was going to work?" Scully asked. Michelle.  
"He didn't. They could have died up there and there would have been nothing we could have done. They'd have been a ghost ship stuck in orbit." I answered before Michelle could.  
"Why would he take that risk?"  
"Bring those men back without delivering that payload? You're talking millions of wasted dollars. That's all Congress would need to shut down NASA." Michelle responded.  
"As of 2200 hours, the crew has been conducting onboard tests and tasks and resting up for their first full day in space tomorrow. I'm happy to say after a beautiful night launch the Shuttle Orbiter has performed magnificently." Belt said. I rolled my eyes as Michelle left in disgust.  
"So much for your boyhood hero." Scully told Mulder.

The computer tech geek with glasses ran into data room where Mulder, Scully, Michelle, techs, and I were dissecting machines.  
"They've got an oxygen leak on board the Orbiter." CTGG said to Michelle quietly.  
"Our O2 gauges are going all screwy, Houston." OTC reported.  
"We got problems. We've got an O2 leak in the main tank." David said to Michelle, Mulder, Scully, and I when we entered Mission Control.  
"What did they say happened?" Michelle asked.  
"They don't know. They just said it was a thump." David replied.  
"Stand by. We have an astronomer in Winnipeg who just spotted a gaseous cloud about a mile long trailing in our orbit." A tach guy said into the headset.  
"That's the liquid O2 leaking out into space. The exact same thing happened to Col. Belt on an Apollo mission." Mulder told Scully.  
"How much time do they have?" Michelle asked.  
"Well, that's hard to know without accurate telemetry data. I'll do the calculations, but it will just be a guesstimate." Tech guy said.  
"I need some answers, and where is Col. Belt?"  
"We can't find him and he was due here 90 minutes ago to begin payload deployment." David told her.  
"Uh, Houston? We're up here kind of wondering when we have to start holding our breath." OTC said.  
"We're working on it OTC. I need those calculations and I need a worst case scenario." Michelle told them.  
"We don't know if one or both of the O2 tanks are damaged." David interrupted.  
"Worst case scenario! And then I want someone to find Col. Belt."  
"We'll find Col. Belt." Mulder told her.  
"They've got thirty minutes of back up oxygen. Beyond that, it's anybody's guess." David said.

Mulder, Scully, and I were walking down the hall when Scully spoke. "Why does she need Belt?"  
"She doesn't know how serious the leak is." Mulder answered.  
"It's an oxygen leak. Even I can figure out what happens when you run out of oxygen." Scully said incredulous.  
"Col. Belt's been up there in the same situation before. He'll know better than anybody else what to do. He's got to make the decisions." Mulder told her.  
"Where the hell is he?"  
Mulder, Scully, and I came to his office and Scull began knocking at Belt's door.  
"Col. Belt? Col. Belt!" Mulder called.  
"I'm going to go get security." Scully said just as Belt opened the door.  
"Col. Belt. Are you all right?" Mulder asked.  
"Yeah. I wasn't feeling well."  
"They need you down at Mission Control, sir. There's been another accident." Mulder informed him.

Belt, Mulder, Scully, and I entered Mission Control.  
"Roger, Houston. We're ready for reentry. Just say the word." OTC said.  
"How bad's the leak?" Belt asked.  
"We have no way to determine." Michelle said.  
"OTC, What's the condensation, cabin?"  
"Windows are getting a little steamy."  
"Carbon dioxide buildup." I murmered.  
"Okay, OTC. Everything's going to be fine. I want you to get in your spacesuits and depressurize your cabin, and then I want you to vent that CO2."  
"Roger, Houston. And then what?"  
Michelle and David looked worried.  
"I want you to stay in your suits. And then I want you to prepare to use your emergency oxygen systems. And then I want you...to...deliver your payload."  
"Those are men up there." Michelle protested.  
"You're out of line. You want to tell me how to do my job? I've been up there in that situation, Miss Generoo. There's more at risk here than your personal life. And if you can't accept that or operate effectively in the circumstances then maybe you'd better leave the decisions to people in this room who can." Belt snapped. Michelle left and Scully followed. "OTC, do you copy?"  
"Roger, Houston. We're waiting on those O2 calculations."  
Mulder and I left.

Mulder, Scully, and I followed a crying Michelle down the hall.  
"Michelle!" Scully called.  
"They're going to die." Michelle sobbed.  
"You don't know that." Mulder told her.  
"It's absolutely unconscionable putting that payload before those men's lives." I said, calmly.  
"I think she's right, Mulder. You saw him in there. He's losing it." Scully said.  
"He saved their lives earlier." Mulder protested.  
"Did he? Or did he put their lives in unnecessary jeopardy? If he can't deliver that payload, Congress is going to kill the Space Program." I argued.  
"And you think killing those astronauts isn't going to have the same effect?" Mulder demanded.  
"Look, Dad. I think somebody must have sabotaged the space shuttle because too many things have gone wrong. I think Col. Belt knows about it and he's known about it from the beginning." I said.  
"We have to stop him. We've got to pull them out of orbit."  
Michelle tried to go, but Mulder grabbed her. "He doesn't want those men to die."  
"How do you know?" Michelle demanded.  
"I know it. I'm sure of it." Mulder reassured, still holding onto her.  
"He's the one who put them up there."  
"And he may be the only person who can get them down alive. Now how can you be certain that what he's doing isn't the right thing? That what he's doing isn't going to save their lives? Now I need access to you records... in a hurry." Mulder told her. Michelle lead us off.

Mulder went to the computer where CTGG was in the computer room. "I need everything on the Hubble Telescope, the Mars Observer, the Shuttle Challenger, and the current Orbiter mission."  
"You're talking about tens of thousands of documents." CTGG said.  
"What exactly are we looking for?" Scully asked.  
"X-rays, diagrams, schematics - - any proof that Belt knew about a sabotage." Mulder said.  
"A needle in a haystack." I murmered.  
Mulder, Scully, and I began going through files. Mulder opened the Challenger file to a picture of the O ring.

"Dad, I found it. This is the same diagram that was sent to Michelle...ordered by Col. Belt. Which means he knew about the faulty valve." I called.  
"This is from the Challenger. It's the O ring fitting that failed dated January 21, 1986. That's one week before the space shuttle blew up. And the analysis was ordered by Col. Belt." Mulder added.  
"Are you saying he might have known about the Challenger defect?" Scully inquired.  
"Something weird is going on here, Scully." Mulder said.  
"Col. Belt's collapsed." Michelle said, coming into the room.  
"Where is he?" Mulder asked.  
"He's in his office."  
We followed her out, Mulder's lead me with his hand on my lower back.

Mulder, Scully, Michelle, and I entered Belt's office.  
"He was just here." Michelle said.  
We found Belt crying under his desk.  
"What's wrong with him?" Michelle asked.  
"Get a doctor." Mulder told her.  
"Help me. Help me." Belt was repeating.  
"How can we help you, Col.?" Mulder asked.  
"He's having some kind of a seizure, Mulder." Scully said.  
Michelle led some EMT's in. "Come on! Come on, come on!"  
"It hurts! It's tearing me apart!" Belt cried.  
"See if I can get a bus." An Emt said as they walk him to the stretcher.  
"I'm bringing that shuttle down." Michelle said.  
"Nooooo! It's out there." Belt shouted.  
"Easy, easy."  
"Spacesuits!"  
"Strap him down." Mulder ordered.  
"Give him 10 milligrams of Diazepam." Scully told them.  
"No." Mulder protested.  
"He's going to hurt himself, Mulder." Scully protested.  
"He's trying to tell us something. Col. Belt." Mulder started.  
"Those men are up there and they're running out of oxygen." Michelle said.  
"They don't have to die." Belt said.  
Mulder held up his finger. "Col. Belt, I want you to focus. Focus your breathing. Focus your pain. Right here."  
"Blood pressure is 174 over 120." The EMT said.  
"Mulder, you're risking an anuerysm." Scully told him.  
"Focus." Mulder said and Belt calmed down. "Now you're focused. Right here. Now you're going to save those astronauts and you're going to tell me how to do it."  
"The shuttle can't survive reentry."  
"No, he's lying." Michelle said.  
"How do you know it can't survive?" Mulder asked.  
"The fuselage...the fuselage is damaged. The silicone tiles are destroyed."  
"How does he know?" Michelle requested.  
"How has it been damaged?" Mulder asked.  
"I'm responsible."  
"Did you sabotage the shuttle?" Mulder inquired.  
"No, but I couldn't stop them. Nobody can stop them."  
"Stop who?" Mulder questioned.  
"Pulse is 194."  
"You're going to kill him, Mulder." Scully cried. I froze.  
"Stop who?" Mulder demanded.  
"They don't want us to know. They don't want us to know."  
"Who?" Mulder demanded again.  
"It came to me. It lives in me." Belt whispered. "Get it out. Help me. It's coming back." Belt's face morphed into a very different face.  
"That's the face I saw in the fog." Michelle said.  
"We're losing him. Defib."  
An EMT handed him the paddles. "Here you go."  
"Clear."  
"Hit it."  
David was suddenly at the door. "We've just run out of oxygen. They've got exactly thirty minutes left in the emergency backup system."  
"They're going to suffocate up there. I've got no choice but to bring them down. It's the only chance I've got." Michelle and David left.  
"Again."  
"Okay, we got O2 standing by."  
"Hold on. We've got vitals. We've got a pulse."  
"We've got to get him to a hospital." Scully said.

They were wheeling Belt on the gurney down the hallway  
"They're bringing the shuttle down. You said the shuttle would burn up on reentry. Is there anything we can do to save it?" Mulder asked him.  
"Change the trajectory."  
"Change the trajectory to what?" Mulder demanded.  
"Change the reentry trajectory to 35 degrees." Belt said. Mulder, Scully, and I ran off.

"You've to change the reentry trajectory." Mulder said as we ran in.  
"What?" Michelle asked.  
"You've got to change it to 35 degrees." Mulder explained.  
"T minus 30 seconds to ionosphere reentry." Tech Guy said.  
"Col. Belt- - -"  
"I can't." Michelle interrupted Mulder.  
"T minus 25 seconds." I said.  
"It's your only shot." Mulder insisted.  
"We...we...we'd have to change the landing site, we'd have to inform them before the blackout." Michelle stammered.  
"15 seconds to blackout."  
"I want to know what the weather conditions are in Albuquerque. Are we go for an emergency landing?" Michelle asked.  
"Weather in Albuquerque? Landing conditions go in Albuquerque." David called.  
"T minus five seconds to blackout."  
"OTC, this is Houston. I want you to change your reentry trajectory to 35 degrees. You'll be landing at Kirtland Field in Albuquerque. Do you copy?"  
"Ionosphere reentry. Temporary blackout in effect." David stated.  
"Did they get that transmission?"  
"Two minutes to reestablish."  
"Damn it. How much oxygen do we have?"  
"16 minutes." I responded having already done the math.  
"OTC, this is Houston. Come in, OTC. OTC, this is Houston. Come in OTC. Anything?" Curly shook his head. "What's the point of their new reentry?"  
"500 miles west of Hawaii." David told Michelle.  
"See if Hawaii can get me - -"  
"Hawaii's picked the shuttle up on radar.  
"They made it." Scully said.  
"Not necessarily." David told her.

"OTC, this is Houston. Come in, OTC." Michelle said. "OTC, this is Houston. Come in, OTC."  
"Houston, this is OTC. You know a good place to eat in Albuquerque?"  
Scully laughed. Mulder and Michelle hugged and I walked out into the hallway.

Mulder was reading the obituary Former Astronaut Space Program Plunges to Death in the X files office. I was sitting on the edge of his desk.  
Scully entered. "I just heard."  
"Something had possessed him. Something he must have seen out there in space." Mulder commented.  
"The doctors who examined him said he was experiencing severe dementia." I murmered.  
"I don't think he ever really knew exactly how it was working through him or that he ever knew...that he was...responsible for his own actions." Mulder said.  
"He ordered those x-rays of the damaged parts." Scully said.  
"You saw what I saw, Scully. I think he was trying to warn her. I think that he sent Michelle those x-rays like he was trying to reach out to her without quite knowing why, as if...his own instinctual impulse was to save those men." Mulder argued.  
"While simultaneously trying to kill them?"  
"Hey, Scully, we send those men up into space to unlock the doors of the universe, and we don't even know what's behind them. I think what ever it was, he took it with him. And in the end that was the only way he knew how to stop it." Mulder shot back.  
"There's an investigation, you know. They haven't ruled out foul play."  
"He gave his own life. As an astronaut, that was something he was prepared to do." Mulder said.


	10. Fallen Angel

When I woke up I pulled on a pair of dark blue jeans, black and white converse, a dark red t shirt, and a leather jacket. Mulder was already gone so I helped myself to some cereal. When I was finished I grabbed a book and started reading it. When I finished two of my books it was midnight and Mulder still wasn't home. I sighed and went to bed.

I woke to someone shaking me. "What?"  
"We need to go."  
My eyes snapped open when I heard Scully's voice. "What are you doing here?"  
"You're father got caught tresspassing." Scully said as we walked out to her car. I didn't bother changing out of my clothes from the previous day. I hadn't done anything, but read so they were still clean. I did however go back to sleep on the way there. It was like 4:00 Am. Scully shook me awake about two hours later and dragged me to some cells."I didn't order room service." Mulder said as we came in. I leaned against the wall.  
"This isn't funny, Mulder." Scully scolded.  
"Did you meet Max?" Mulder asked, completely ignoring what she said.  
"Who?"  
"Max from NICAP." Mulder looked to an empty bunk behind him. "Oh, they must have released him. Another intrepid soul in seach of a close enounter."  
"Is that what this is about?" Scully demanded. I sighed.  
"What else?" Mulder questioned.  
"Try explaining that to Section Cheif McGrath. He stepped over Blevins ordering a full inquiry. With a recommendation...Mulder he wants to shut down the X-files. And he wants you out of the bureau."  
"So what else is new?" Mulder asked uncaringly.  
"I don't understand you Mulder. Or your daughter." Scully burst out. I sharply looked over at her. What did I do? "Why you're always defying protocol? Ignoring jurisdiction..."  
"Because I know what I saw Scully. There weren't train tracks anywhere near that site. So how could it have been a derailed container?" Mulder got to the point.  
"Because it wasn't. What you saw was not a toxic spill. But it wasn't a UFO either."  
"OK. I'm all ears. What was it?" Mulder demanded.  
"It was a downed Libyan jet with a nuclear warhead." Scully said making Mulder laugh. "Over US air space... They'd been picking up low grade levels of radiation indicating that a plutonium casing may have cracked. So to avoid mass panic..."  
"You really believe that story..?" Mulder interrupted.  
"That story happens to be highly classified."  
"A highly classified lie." Mulder said as a helicopter passed overhead. "They're searching for someone Scully."  
"If they're searching for anyone, its probably the pilot."  
"You think they'd roll out all of this material for one Libyan fighter jock?" Mulder paused. "Besides, no human pilot walked away from the wreckage I saw."  
"Well, maybe he ejected."  
"Maybe." Mulder mused.

"You can't be serious!" Scully protested.  
"As long as we're here in beuartiful downtown Townsend, why not?" Mulder asked.  
"Mulder, the hearing is tomorrow morning at ten o'clock." Scully argued. I grinned.  
"That gives us 24 hours to investigate." Mulder stated.  
"My assignment is to bring you back, not to help you dig yourself in deeper."  
""The Last Detail" starring Dana Scully." Mulder said as we entered a hotel room. The room was a mess and the phone was off the hook.  
"What's going on?" Scully asked.  
"Looks like housekeeping hasn't been here yet." Mulder replied.  
"Who would..."  
"Shh..." Mulder pulled me behind him as we heard a noise come from in the bathroom.  
Both Scully and Mulder drew their guns and approached the bathroom. Entering the bathroom I could see the rear legs of a man sticking out as he tried to fit through the bathroom window.  
"Max?" Mulder asked.  
"Get your hands up!" Scully yelled.  
"Whoa. Don't shoot. Don't shoot." Max pleaded.  
"Max?" Mulder asked again.  
Max took aoof his hat. "Ahem.."  
Mulder brought Max into the bedroom and sat him down on the bed.  
"My apologies. Forgive me please. I'm a curious man. I had to know.." Max trailed off.  
"Know what?" Mulder asked.  
"If it was really you."  
"But you don't know me. Last night is the first time you've laid eyes on me." Mulder said confused.  
"Not true. We at NICAP have been following your career really closely. Ever since you became involved with the X-files."  
"Following my career? How?" Mulder questioned.  
"Through the Freedom of Information travel expenses are a matter of public record." Max paused and looked at Scully and I. "So, this must be the enigmatic Agent Scully. And your daughter." Max moved towards Scully. extending his hand, but Mulder pushed him back onto the bed.  
"How did you recognize me?" Mulder asked.  
"I saw your picture in a trade magazine once. And of course I read your article in Omni about the Gulf Breeze sightings."  
"I published that under a pseudonym." Mulder stated.  
"M.F. Luder. I know. M.F. Luder is an anagram for F. Mulder. You really didn't think that would fool us did you?"  
"I didn't think anyone was really paying attention." Mulder said.  
"Somebody's always paying attention Mr. Mulder."  
"A-mazing." Scully said.  
"Amazing? Hardly. You want to see something amazing? Come with me."  
Mulder and I headed out of the motel room. Mulder looked at Scully. "*Enigmatic* Dr. Scully."

Max lead us to a trailer in the motel parking lot. "This is my, uh...Right this way."  
When we got inside the trailer, Max began to search around for something. Scully began to look around.  
"Okay. Where's those, uh...They were right here. Oh, here they are. The latest crop circle photos from Project Argus. Huh? Your opinion fact or fraud."  
"Fraud." Mulder answered immedeatly.  
"How do you explain the anamolous blisters on the plants?"  
"Some unreported weathering effects common to wheat or a systematic reaction to the plant tissue to being lodged in one position." Mulder replied.  
I noticed some medication on a shelf, so I quickly picked up one of the prescription bottles and noticed that it read: MELLARIL.  
"I see you've read the literature." Max told Mulder.  
"I try to keep up." Mulder responded.  
"What about the..."  
"Max! You said you had something to show us." Mulder cut him off.  
"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah." All four of us approached some electronic equipment. "Wolf Ear 2000. Did you ever hear of this?"  
"Yeah. Wolf Industries supplied the CIA with all of its surveillance equipment." I answered absently. Scully stared at me.  
"State of the art, search and intercept. Up to 100 channels per second. Currently I'm jacked into local fire and police departments, cellular pathways, and when the weather's right sometimes even air traffic control from Whitmarsh Air Force Base."  
"What have you got Max?" Mulder questioned.  
"Mobil Unit Broadcast. In Scan Mode. Townshend Shariff's deparment. Two nights ago." Max played a recording for us. 'We got a fire of county road D7. Two miles west of the canyon ridge intersection. Suggest we dispatch fire crews, over? This is Deputy Wright. Do you copy?' "And this. 35 minutes later. Presumably from the fire crew. Reception got wiggy for some reason." 'This is unit 53. Man down. Request medivac. I said request medivac! You're breaking up! Very. Bad. VERY bad. Wait a second. What the hell? Charlie, we've got a situation here! '

"Mrs. Wright? Hi. I'm Fox Mulder. This is Dana Scully and River Mulder. We're from the FBI. We'd like to ask you a few questions about your husband." Mulder started.  
"He's dead. What else is there to know?" Mrs. Wright got up and walked away toward an empty cot with a young boy.  
"I'm sorry about your husband." Scully told her.  
"Oh, please."  
"Mrs. Wright, we want to help you." Scully tried again.  
"Then leave me alone." Mrs. Wright told her.  
"Why won't you let us help you?" Mulder questioned.  
"I don't know anything!" Mrs. Wright looked between all three of us, before sitting down. "Don't you understand? They won't even release the body so I can give him a proper burial. OK?"  
"The government can't do that. I'm sure if you appealed to..."  
"No!" Mrs. Wright interjected.  
"You're entitled to the truth." I told her.  
"I can't afford the truth. They said that if I spoke to anyone, they would withhold my husband's pension. And I have a child to take care of. "  
I looked around as the lights went out in the evacuation center.

We arrived at the county hospital at 11:42 Pm.  
"I'm sorry, but unless you have a subpoena I can't discuss patient information." Dr. Oppenheim told us.  
"Does that mean Jason Wright was your patient?" I asked him.  
"It means I have nothing more to say about this."  
"What about his wife and child, Doctor? Would you have anything to say to them? Because whoever got to you also got to her. They must have some pretty big threats. What did they hold over your head? Your medical licence, the IRS?" Mulder asked.  
"I hate fascists."  
"Excuse me?" Mulder inquired.  
"The men who came in here. The way they pushed us all around."  
"Dr. Oppenheim. Tell us about the deputy. You saw him that night, didn't you?" Mulder queried.  
"Yes. And three others from the fire crew. They were all DOA with 5th and 6th degree burns over 90 percent of their bodies. Although they weren't like any burns I've ever seen. And they took the bodies away before we could perform any pathologies."  
"Did you note any cadaver acute heat rigor or heat stiffening?" Scully asked. Yes, I thought.  
"Yes, actually there was quite a bit of heat inflection in the limbs. How do you know so much about it?"  
"Doctor, in your opinion, could those burns have been caused by ionizing radiation?" Mulder inquired.  
"Well, I hadn't thought...I suppose its possible. If the exposure was significantly intense."

Scully, Mulder, and I were now walking down the hallway.  
"Lets say those men died from radiation exposure. Couldn't it have been from the cracked core of a nuclear warhead?" Scully asked, as skeptic as ever.  
"I've read about these kinds of burns, Scully." Mulder told her.  
"Yeah, so have I. In Hiroshima at Ground Zero."  
"I'm talking about close encounter mortalities. I have a stack of X-files recording the same clinical results." Mulder informed.  
"Mulder I don't claim to know all the answers, but if we don't make the OPR inquest by tomorrow morning, there may not be any more X-files."  
There was a sudden commotion as men in military uniforms were brought in on stretchers. The men had severe burns and they were moaning. CCH followed them in. Looking directly at Mulder as he passed.

Scully, Mulder, and I were back in the emergency room with Dr. Oppenhiem and Colonel Calvin Henderson. The men in the military uniforms layed on gurneys in various positions of the ER. Medical personnel scurried around frantically. Dr. Oppenhiem was checking on a burn patient wearing a military uniform. "Start an IV here stat."  
"Tell us what happened out there." Mulder told Henderson.  
"Whatever happened, Mulder, it has nothing to do with you."  
"Wrong Colonel. We both want the same thing. Only you want it dead. Can't you see that chasing it down like an animal you leave it no choice but to defend itself? How many more people have to die before you rethink your approach?" Mulder demanded, harshly.  
"Listen to me. Cause I'm not wasting another breath on this. If you and your partners aren't out of here in 30 seconds ..."  
"Agent Scully stays right here. We're undermanned. She's a medical doctor. She stays." Dr. Oppenhiem said before turning to Scully. "If that's OK with you."  
"Of course, I..."  
"Doctor, if you don't mind, you just take care of my men, and let me do my work, OK?" Henderson interrupted Scully.  
"Outside this emergency room, you can do whatever you want, But in here I call the shots. Assuming of course, you want me to take care of your men."  
The Colenel paused a moment. "Get this man and this...child out of my sight!" He nodded to Mulder and I. Mulder and I were led out.

Mulder and I got out of the car in the motel parking lot, and headed to Max's trailer.  
"Max?" Mulder called as he knocked on his door. "Hey, Max. Max?"  
Max was lying on the ground in convulsions when we walked in. Mulder tried to hold him still. The convulsions slowly subsided.  
"Hey... Max." Mulder said when Max opened his eyes.  
"Who...who are you?" Max asked.  
"Max.. Its me. Fox Mulder.. Are you OK?" Mulder queried.  
"What are you doing here?"  
"You were having some kind of seizure." Mulder explained.  
"Seizure? That's impossible."  
"You were lying on the floor. Unconscious. Convulsing." Mulder explained further.  
"Thats odd. I haven't had an episode in seven years. Not since I went on medication."  
"Lets get you to the hospital." Mulder said.  
"No! I mean, I mean its not necessary." Max said, alarmed.  
"Are you sure?" Mulder questioned.  
"Yeah. I've lived with epilepsy all my life. I'm not in any danger. " Max replied. Mulder got a glass of water and gave it to Max. "Yeah. It started in South Dakota when I was ten. The doctor said I must have incurred a head injury. I don't remember hitting my head."  
"And when you have a seizure, you have no memory of it?" Mulder asked.  
"As a kid I used to wake up in strange places with no idea where I was, or how I got there." Max sighed. "Sorry I..." Max handed Mulder the water. "I've got to get some sleep."  
Mulder helped him to his bed. As Max lied down, I noticed a mark behind his ear and I was sure Mulder did too.

Mulder and I were in a hotel room, studying X-files. I scanned what he was reading.  
...The mouth shows  
..re is malalignment of the l  
the left posterior triangle  
a 3 cm scar below the acro  
sthesis for intravenous inj  
nt subclavian vein and supe  
complicated. Venipunctures  
cubital fossa.  
Scully entered, sighing.  
"Rough night, huh?" Mulder said.  
"It was terrible. We lost all but two. And they're still in critical condition on their way to the burn unit at John's Hopkins." Scully replied. Glad I wasn't there, I thought. I would've been in hysterics.  
"So what do you think, Scully? What's going on out there?" Mulder asked.  
"I don't know. And under other circumstances, I would like to find out, but we have a plane to catch in just over an hour..." She headed towards the door.  
"I want you to take a look at something first." Mulder said.  
"What?" Scully said irritated as she turned around.  
"Max. There's an unsual incision bechind his left ear. I've seen this incision twice before. Two women. A thousand miles apart. No way of knowing each other. No relation. Both claim to have been abducted by aliens." Mulder said.  
"Are you saying Max Fenig is an abductee? Mulder, the man is taking powerful anti-psychotic drugs. I saw them in his RV."  
"They're for his epilepsy." Mulder said.  
"Not all of them. DILANTIN is an anti-convulsant, but MELLARIL is used exclusively to treat schitzophrenia. More than likely, Max is delusional."  
"You don't seem to understand Scully. Max doesn't believe he was abducted by aliens, I believe he was. Now could you at least take a look at the scar, and give me your medical opinion?" Mulder asked.  
"Okay. You pack. I'll take a look at Max...on the way to the airport."

Scully, Mulder, and I approached Max's trailer.  
"Come on, Mulder. Lets get this over with." Scully said.  
Mulder began knocking on the trailer. "Hey, Max." Mulder opened the trailer door. "Max!"  
Inside the trailer, a frequency scanner chattered.  
"Max?" Mulder called.  
"Mulder - look at this." Scully was pointing to some blood on the pillow.  
"What is that, blood?" Mulder asked.  
Mulder and Scully walked over to where I was standing in front of the scanner, looking and listening.  
"Repeat...patrol reporting unidentified tresspass at the waterfront. This is Henderson. Move on target."  
Mulder looked at Scully, and left the trailer with me close behind him.  
"Mulder! River!" Scully called.  
"Come on." Mulder said as we headed towards the car.  
"Where do you think you two are going? Look, if we go to the airport right now, we might make the plane. Which would at least give you half a chance of defending yourself." Scully said.  
"Think about is Scully. Max is a gypsy. A nomad, right?" Mulder tried to get her to understand.  
"Yeah, so what?" Scully brushed it off.  
"So he intercepted Deputy Wright's last call to his dispatcher. Which means he was here in Townsend Wisconsin the night of the crash. Of all the places he could of been, he was right here. Don't you think thats more than a coincidence? If Max was abducted that would go a long way to explaining his obsession. And if we've figured it out, you can be sure Col. Henderson has as well. Do you have the keys?" Mulder explained. Scully handed over the keys.

Scully, and I pulled up. Two military men, lied on the ground, smoke pouring off their bodies.  
"They're dead." Scully said as I froze. It felt like I was submerged in ice water. Everything was distant and muffled.  
There were screams in the distance. I quickly snapped out of it when Mulder pulled on my arm. He looked concerned.

Mulder, Scully, and I entered the warehouse. I could hear Max. "It hurts. It hurts. Please stop. It hurts."  
"Max?" Mulder called.  
"It hurts. It hurts."  
"Max. Its alright." Mulder said as we walked over to him.  
"It hurts. Stop it. No, no. It's me they..." He trailed off snd I heard a helicopter overhead. "They're coming for me. Now I know...They're coming for me. That's why they're here."  
Mulder motioned to the helicopter and Scully left the warehouse.  
"Come on. Come on, Max." Mulder tried.  
"Why... Stop. Why?" Max asked.  
"I'm hear to help you." Mulder said.  
"I'm scared." Max whimpered. Yes, he was. I could feel how scared he was.  
"I know." Mulder told him.  
"Don't let them take me."  
"I won't let them take you. Come on, Max. Come with me." Mulder tried to pull him to his feet.  
"NO!" Max screamed. I gasped as Mulder and I suddenly went flying through the air. I groaned as I landed on top of Mulder. When we stood up, Max was gone.  
"Max! Max!" Mulder was limping when we went in another direction. "MAX!"  
I could see Max suspended in a light in the middle of the warehouse. His feet weren't touching the ground. With an explosive sound, the light got brighter. Max began to shake. Mulder and I watched until the light got too bright before fading completely.  
Mulder limped over to the place where Max was and picked up Max's NICAP hat which was lying on the floor.  
"Where is he?" Henderson demanded as he came running in.  
"He's gone. They got to him first. They beat us Colonel." Mulder answered.  
"Arrest them...and keep looking." Henderson ordered.

Mulder and I were sitting in the hallway, Mulder was reading a newspaper. The crutches he had to use leant against the wall behind him. Scully exited from the room into the hallway.  
"Do you hear that sound Scully?" Mulder asked as he picked up his crutches. "Hammer and nails. They're building a gallows in the town square. Don't worry." Scully bent down, picking up a large envelope. "It was only a matter of time." Scully handed the envelope to Mulder as he continued. "I'm surprised I lasted this long."  
"Good luck." Scully told us.  
"I'll break a leg." Mulder said as he limped on his crutches. I could feel Scully's eyes on my back as me and Mulder entered the room. They said I had to be there as well for some reason.

"...as well as insubordination and misconduct. How do you respond to these allegations, Agent Mulder?" Chief McGrath was saying when I tuned back in to the conversation.  
"Over a dozen men lost their lives and you want me to respond to issues of protocol?" Mulder questioned.  
"You failed to obtain proper authorization for your actions."  
"Because I knew it wouldn't be forthcoming." Mulder defended himself.  
"You also violated a federal quarantine..."  
"A cover up was underway..." Mulder cut in, raising his voice.  
"...exposing yourself and possibly others to toxic contamination." McGrath finished also raising his voice.  
"Oh, toxic contamination? Are we back in that? You read my report, explain the disapearance of Max Fenig." Mulder yelled making me flinch slightly.  
"Your report is not the subject of this inquiry..."  
"I have further evidence to support my conclusions - X-rays taken while Mr. Fenig was institutionalized show an object lodged in his cerrebelum." Mulder interrupted as he waved the envelope.  
"That is irrelevant Agent Mulder."  
"The man was abducted. We all know it. Everybody in this room knows it." Mulder snapped.  
"Colonel Henderson's written testimony states that Fenig's body was found two hours later in a cargo container."  
"Then what can I say?" Mulder stood up. "How can I disprove lies that are stamped with an official seal?"  
"That will be all Mr. Mulder."  
"You can deny all the things I've seen. All the things I've discovered. But not for much longer. Because too many others know what's happening out there. And no one. No government agency has jurisdiction over the truth." Mulder took his crutches and the envelope, and went to leave, but McGrath stopped us.  
"Miss Mulder?" I turned to face him. "I would like to speak with you alone."  
I nodded to Mulder and went to sit down as he waited outside for me. "Yes?"  
"Did anyone tell you why we let you become a federal agent?"  
"They said it was because of my...speceial circumstances." I answered.  
"Do you know what those are?" I shook my head. "How do you feel about your father's claims?"  
"I believe him and I support him." I said without hesitation.  
"Well, we would like you to try to rein him in. And continue with your work." McGrath said and I glared. "Dismissed."  
I left the room now angry. How could they even think I would that?  
"How'd it go?" Mulder asked.  
"Fine. I'm supposed to try to rein you in." I answered emphasizing the try.


	11. Eve

Scully, Mulder, and I were in our office. Mulder was looking at slides. I was wearing a purple T-shirt, dark blue skinny jeans, combat boots, and a leather jacket.  
"Death by hypovolaemia. 95% blood loss. That's over 4 liters of blood." Scully read.  
"I'd say the man was running on empty." Mulder said.  
"The man's daughter, 8 years old... was away from his side for no more than 10 minutes. She doesn't remember anything, there was no trace evidence found at the crime scene."  
"Any evidence would have be washed away by yesterday's rain." Mulder told her.  
"Oh, there were two small puncture wounds."  
"Are you at all familiar with the phenomena of cattle mutilations?" Mulder went to the slide projector and showed slides of mutilated cattle to Scully as he talked. "Since 1967, over 34 states have reported unsolved cases of cattle mutilations. Trace evidence is remarkably similar. Incision marks of surgical precision. The area around the mouth and often the sexual organs have been removed. There's a substantial degree of blood loss but not a trace of blood at the scene."  
"How could that be?"  
"Exsanguination. If you were to stick a needle into the jugular of any living creature, the heart itself would act as a pump. These animals have had their jugulars punctured the same as the man in Greenwich, CT. Although this is the first time I've ever seen it on a human being." Mulder answered.  
"But there was no sign of a struggle. How could a man just sit through a blood letting?"  
The M.E. found traces of digitalis, a South American plant that can be used as a paralytic drug." Mulder mused.  
"Wait a minute. These X-Files indicate UFO related phenomena. Often there are related sightings in the sky near the incidences, along with surface burns..." Scully trailed off.  
"Witnesses often relate time loss. We've seen this in abduction cases. That might explain why the girl can't remember anything." Mulder suggested.  
"Mulder, why would alien beings travel light years through space in order to play doctor on cattle?"  
"For the same reason we cut up frogs and monkeys. Besides, they seem to have stepped up their interest." Mulder pointed to the slide of the father, Joel and the puncture wounds on his neck.

We went to the Fairfield County Social Services Hospital in Greenwhich, CT.  
A social worker lead us down a hall and up some stairs. "Her mother passed away from ovarian cancer two years ago. There's no other family. We'll keep Teena here until we can place her with a foster family."  
"Has she spoken about it?" Mulder inquired.  
"No. Not a word."  
"Any nightmares?" Mulder pressed.  
"No. At least, not that I know of." That's weird.  
We got to a door with a round window and looked in.  
"Can we talk to her now?" Scully asked. She knocked on Teena's door and opened it.  
We entered. Teena was sitting up in bed holding a stuffed bunny. Scully sat on Teena's bed and Mulder sat in a chair while I leaned against the wall near the window near Teena.  
"Teena? These are the people we talked about. This is Miss Scully, Miss Mulder, and Mr. Mulder. Do you think you could talk to them?" The social worker asked her.  
Teena nodded and the social worker left the room.  
"Hi. I know you must be feeling really sad right now. And scared. But we want to find out what happened so we can help stop whoever hurt your daddy. Okay?" Scully asked. Did she look five?  
Teena nodded.  
"Did you ever see any strangers with your father at home?" I asked her. Something was off with her. Teena shook her head while Scully stared at me. "Did you ever see... anyone yell at your father or your father yell at them?"  
"No." Teena replied.  
"Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt your father?" I probed. Mulder was now staring at me also.  
"No."  
"Nice bunny, Teena. Can we talk about what happened that day? About what happened in the back yard?" Mulder asked her.  
Teena nodded hesitantly, but somehow I knew it was an act. But why?  
"Yeah? Do you remember... any strange sounds or lights or anything like that?" Mulder questioned.  
"There was Red Lightening."  
"Can you tell me more about the Red Lightening?" Mulder requested.  
"I can't remember... it all went dark."  
"Had you ever seen anything like that before?" Mulder asked. Teena nodded. "Yeah? When?"  
"The men from the clouds, they were after my dad."  
Scully's phone rang and she answered it away from the bed and Mulder, Teena, and I.  
"Why were these men after your Dad?" Mulder inquired.  
"They wanted to exsanguinate him."  
Mulder looked at Teena with surprise that such a little girl would know such a word. More proof that she isn't what she seems.  
"Mulder..." Scully called. Mulder and I joined Scully. "There's been another one."

Mulder, Scully, and I walked in from the driveway. Scully was holding a file.  
"It's like looking at a mirror image." Mulder commented.  
"The victim, Doug Reardon, was married with one daughter. Cause of death, hypovilemia. Mulder, this is crazy." Scully said.  
"They also found traces of the poison digitalis." I said without looking at the file. Although I had glanced at the file earlier.  
"How do you do that?" Scully asked. I just frowned. I didn't know.  
"Puncture wounds?" Mulder asked. Scully and him both looked at me.  
"Yes. On the jugular. Time of death was estimated at 2:30 p.m. Same day, only three hours earlier than the Simmons murder." I answered.  
"That's Pacific standard time. That makes it the exact same moment." Mulder said  
"It appears we have two serial killers working in tandem." Scully concluded wrongly.  
"No. Serial killers seldom work in pairs. And when they do, they kill together not separately." Mulder shot down her theory.  
"Mulder, nothing beyond your leading questions to Teena Simmons substantiates a UFO mutilation theory."  
"Was Reardon's daughter nearby when he was murdered?" Mulder asked.  
Scully looked in the file again.  
"Yes... The police report states that she remembers nothing. She's with her mother and family in Sacramento." I answered before Scully could.  
"She's right." Scully confirmed obviously confused.  
"When will they be back?" Mulder requested.  
"Tomorrow."  
"Even money... she'll remember Red Lightening." Mulder bet Scully.

The next day we went to the Reardon's house. I pulled a grey vest on over my black T-shirt that was paired with dark grey skinny jeans and my combat boots.  
Mulder, Scully, and I got out of the car and walked up to the house.  
"She was kidnaped from the Social Services Home around 11 p.m. last night. Looks like someone was afraid she might remember too much." Scully informed us of Teena's situation.  
"Someone or something, Scully." Mulder corrected.  
"Connecticut State Troopers set up road blocks within a half an hour. Nothing."  
"Maybe they weren't looking in the right direction." Mulder pointed up.  
"I told them to contact us if they happen to find her."  
Mulder knocked on the door. It opened to reveal a little girl that looked exactly like Teena Simmons. Mulder and Scully just stared at her for a second.  
"Teena?" Scully asked.  
"No." The little girl replied.  
"What's your name?"  
"Cindy Reardon."  
"You live here, Cindy?" Mulder inquired.  
"Ever since I was born, 8 years ago." Strange way to answer a question.

Cindy was watching cartoons as Mulder, Scully, and I watched her from a distance. Cindy picked up the remote and turned the channel to a news conference before putting the remote down. She's interested in the news? Scully looked at Mulder as Mrs. Reardon entered with a tray of tea.  
"Cindy really is a beautiful little girl, Mrs. Reardon." Mulder complimented.  
"Doug and I wanted to spoil her. We wanted to protect her from everything horrible in the world. She was daddy's little girl." Mrs. Reardon started to softly cry.  
"Is she an only child?" Mulder inquired. Mrs. Reardon nodded.  
"May I ask... Was Cindy adopted?" Scully probed.  
"No. I gave birth to her at San Rafael General."  
I looked at Cindy in the mirror across from me. She was listening very closely to what we were saying.  
"So, I assume you have all the proper documentation. Birth certificate..." Scully trailed off.  
"Of course I do."  
"Was she the only child delivered at that birth?" Mulder questioned.  
"What the hell kind of question is that? Look, I have told the police everything I know."  
Mulder showed Mrs. Reardon a picture of Teena and Mr. Simmons. "Mrs. Reardon, have you ever seen this man before?"  
"This... is this your suspect?"  
"No." Mulder stated.  
"Did he do something to Cindy?"  
"No... he... he did... he didn't..." Mulder seemed at a loss for words.  
"No. Mrs. Reardon. This is not your daughter. That girl's name is Teena Simmons. She lives 3,000 miles away in Connecticut. That man, her father, was killed in the same manner as your husband." I told her.  
"Cindy is my daughter. I can show you videos of her birth. We tried for six years to become pregnant."  
"In vitro fertilization?" Mulder requested. She nodded. "At which clinic?"  
"Luther Stapes Center. Down in San Francisco."  
"Thanks." Mulder said.  
Scully, Mulder, and I left the house and talked on the way to the car.  
"Do you still believe this is UFO related? Cindy Reardon didn't see Red Lightening." Scully commented.  
"I don't know. The only thing similar about these girls doesn't seem to be their appearance." Mulder admitted.  
"Well, there seems to be the random possibility that two people can have an unrelated likeness."  
"Who both just happened to see their father's exsanguinated? I'd like to get the odds on that in Vegas." Mulder said, doubtfully.  
Scully seemed to agree.  
Mulder, Scully, and I got in the car.  
"The girls are the one and only link between identical murders." Scully said.  
"One girl was just abducted." Mulder added.  
"Kidnaped."  
"Potato, potahto." Mulder said before he stopped the car.  
"Where are you going?"  
"The murders were committed by the same person or persons. Part of the pattern involves kidnaping the daughter." Mulder replied.  
"And you expect the pattern to continue."  
"I'm going to keep an eye on the girl. You check out the clinic. See if the Simmons were enrolled in the same fertility program." Mulder said. He opened the door and got out.  
"Okay. I'll call the San Francisco bureau and get someone to relieve you." Scully said. "I'll take River."  
"Okay." Mulder said. He shut the door.

A doctor, Scully, and I walked up the stairs at the Luther Stapes Center for Reproductive Medicine.  
"In vitro fertilization is a procedure in which we can implement fertilization. An implantation of the embryo to the uterus." The doctor said.  
"Could a patient have believed she was receiving her own eggs but actually receive another without her knowledge?" Scully inquired.  
"Not here. We have very strict controls."  
"Are you ever aware of having patients by the name of Claudia and Joel Simmons?" Scully requested.  
"Any information about patients is confidential. That's our policy."  
"Both the Simmons are dead. And their daughter has been kidnaped. I think any information that you have that could help overrides your policy." Scully said angrily.

Scully was looking at a file in the doctor's office and she read aloud. "You have copies of their records sent to Greenwich, CT, in 1991... They came here 9 years ago under the supervision of a Dr. Sally Kendrick?" There was no answer. "There a problem?"  
"Dr. Kendrick was nothing but a problem."  
We watched a video tape of Sally Kendrick giving a lecture. She was sharp looking and professional, wearing a lab coat and in an office. She smiled too much though.  
"Hello. And welcome to the Luther Stapes Center for Reproductive Medicine." Sally sat down on the desk. "I'm Dr. Sally Kendrick, a specialist in the exciting field of in vitro fertilization." Sally said on the tape.  
"She was a resident here in 1985. Brilliant. First in her class at Yale med where she got her MD. After completing her doctorate in Bio Genetics, we were thrilled to get her."  
"And now you don't sound too thrilled." Scully commented.  
"We have reason to believe that Dr. Kendrick was tampering with genetic material that was fertilized in the lab prior to implant. Experimenting with Eugenics."  
"Did you report this to the AMA?" Scully asked.  
"Of course. And I fired her. And also requested an investigation with the Health Department."  
"And what happened?" I asked.  
"The AMA censured her. My request for an investigation was denied. Dr. Kendrick disappeared."  
"We know the pain of infertility and we are ready to help. In the next half hour, I'll guide you through..." Sally continued.

Mulder and Scully were sitting on the end of a bed at the motel, watching the tape.  
Scully talked over the tape. "Dr. Kendrick was the supervising physician in both the Reardon's and Simmons' IVF program. It seems she was experimenting at the clinic."  
"Maybe now she's trying to erase the results?" Mulder suggested.  
They watched the tape again.  
"... can't guarantee everyone's success, but with our scientific advances, a little luck, and a lot of hope... miracles can happen." Dr. Kendrick said.  
"Well, she must have had an accomplice to have done both murders." Scully murmered.  
"So you think this is a vendetta that she and a colleague have against the Stapes Center?" Mulder queried.  
The phone rang and Scully answered it. "Mulder, does this mean you've abandoned your UFO connection?" She asked before speaking into the phone. "Hello?...Hello?" She hung up. "Just a couple of clicks. Must be the wrong number."  
"I'll tell you what... I'm going to sleep on it and we'll talk about it in the morning." Mulder said as he guided Scully to the door.  
"Mulder, you're rushing me out of the room." Scully said.  
"No, I'm not." Mulder denied.  
"You got a girl coming over?" Scully asked as he gently nudged me after her.  
"What's a girl?" Mulder asked as he opened the door.  
"No, I have... there's a movie I want to watch on TV. Sleep tight. See you in the morning." Mulder said.  
"And I have to leave why?" I asked.  
"You two need to bond and stop being at each other's throats." He answered.

In the morning we went to Whiting Institute for the Crimanally Insane.  
Scully, Mulder, and I went to a desk to sign in by a guard.  
"Agents Mulder, Scully, and this is River. We're here to see Eve 6." Mulder introduced.  
"Deposit your fire arms." The gaurd said. Scully and Mulder did. "I don't have any." I explained when he looked at jme. "Sign for these." He put three contraptions on the desk.  
"What are those?" Mulder asked.  
"Panic buttons. Can't let you inside without one."

We were being led through a series of corridors, stairs and cages. All metal and mesh. We stopped by a cell door. The female security guard gave us all flashlights.  
"Why the flashlights?" Scully asked.  
"She screams and screams if we turn the over heads on. No one's ever gotten a good look at her." The gaurd answered. Mulder, Scully, and I were going to go into the cell when she spoke again. "We'll be right outside."  
Mulder, Scully, and I turned the flashlights on as they closed the door behind us. It was a dirty cell with garbage all over and padded walls.  
"Hello?" Mulder called. I could see Eve 6 crouching in the corner on the floor with shackles. Eve 6 had dirty hair and yellow teeth. There were pictures on the wall.  
"Well it looks like you got what you're looking for... One of us at least." Eve 6 said. She seemed...familiar.  
"Sally Kendrick..." Scully breathed.  
"Cut off the chains... then we'll talk."  
"They're probably there for a good reason." Mulder said.  
"No. Bad reason. I paid too much attention to a guard. Bit into his eyeball." She giggled and made gnashing sounds. "I meant it as a sign of affection." She laughed. "Are you going to give me an IQ test by any chance? I think I can top 265. We're very bright, we Eves. It runs in the family." I bet I could top 365, I thought.  
"Where are the others? The other Adams and the Eves?" Mulder requested.  
"All that's left is me. And Eve 7, she escaped early on. And Eve 8. She escaped 10 years later."  
"Are you Sally Kendrick?" Scully asked.  
"That's not my name. But she is me and I am her and we are together." She thought this was funny too.  
"Did you work for the Luther Stapes Center for Reproductive Medicine in 1985?" Scully inquired.  
"1985?! I've been tied up like this for two years and for what reason? For no reason, I did nothing. I'm just me. They made me. But did they suffer? No. No. I suffer. I suffer! They keep me alive for the Lichfield Project , they come in... they test me, they poke me... to see what went wrong. Sally knows what went wrong." Eve 6 said. I sighed. That sounded familiar as well. Like one of my nightmares. Eve 6 was almost spitting out the words. She pointed to us as best she could with her hands tied. "You and you and you. You have 46 chromosomes. The Adams and the Eves ... we have 56. We have extra chromosomes. Number 4, 5, 12, 16, and 22. This replication of chromosomes also produces additional genes. Heightened strength. Heightened intelligence."  
"Heightened psychosis." Mulder muttered.  
"Saved the best for last." She looked at us. "You don't believe me. I have proof. Look on the wall. My family album."  
One of the pictures on the wall was of many clones of Teena and Cindy by a swing set.  
"My God. It's the girls." Scully breathed.  
"We were close. We were very close."  
"Dr. Kendrick was using the clinic to carry on the Lichfield Experiment. She was cloning herself." Mulder concluded.

Mulder, Scully, and I were in the car watching the house.  
"Suppose Eve 6 is right and there are two other Eves out there. That could account for the two identical murders occurring at exactly the same time. Sally Kendrick does have an accomplice. Herself." Mulder spoke his thoughts.  
"Until I heard that, I was beginning to suspect the girls." Scully said. You should. I frowned at the stray thought.  
"No. No, no, no. It seems the two remaining Eves are doing away with the parents in order to keep Teena and Cindy in the family." Mulder said.

Later Scully was looking at Cindy's window with binoculars. Cindy was standing at the window. "You suppose these girls have any idea of what they are?"  
"I hope not." Mulder answered.  
A bright light appeared in Cindy's room.  
"Mulder, let's go." Scully said. Mulder, Scully, and I quickly got out of the car.  
"I'll take the back." Mulder told us.  
Scully and I took off for the front door while Mulder headed for the backyard.  
Inside the house the lights were off, Scully walked ahead of me through the house with her gun out. She met up with Mrs. Reardon. "There's someone upstairs, wait outside."  
Scully got to the top of the stairs and she was suddenly knocked down by...something. I ran up the stairs and made sure she was okay before I hurried after whoever or whatever pushed Scully.  
I caught up as a woman - I now realized - burst through the patio doors, holding Cindy.  
Mulder pointed his gun at her. "FBI. I'm armed." Eve 7 or 8 holding Cindy stopped and looked at him. She was wearing a dark sweatshirt with the hood over her head. "Which one are you? Eve 7 or Eve 8?"  
Eve 7 or 8 pointed a gun at Cindy's head. "Drop it. You know I'm capable. Slow. Real slow. And the little girly behind me, don't move."  
"Trust me. If you take her, you'll regret it." I stated, calmly.  
"I'll take my chances." She replied. "Gun down now."  
Mulder put his gun on the ground and Eve 7 or 8 took off and Mulder stooped to pick up his gun while I ran past and followed us. A car started and we ran after it as it took off down the alleyway.

Later Mrs. Reardon was wrapped in a blanket and Mulder and I were silent as Scully spoke to an officer.  
When Scully came over Mrs. Reardon spoke, "What if she kills her?"  
"Mrs. Reardon, the fact that Kendrick and her accomplice murdered the fathers and abducted the girls means they want them alive. I'm sure Cindy's alive and we'll find her." Mulder assured.  
Mrs. Reardon walked away crying.  
"And then what do we do?" Scully inquired.

Scully and Mulder came downstairs at the Reardon house. A female cop met them while I leaned against the wall. Mulder was on his cell phone.  
"Agent Scully? They found the Corolla in the parking lot at San Francisco International." The officer said.  
"Okay, good. I want you to start a check on every single passenger for every flight that left the terminal over the past twelve hours. I want you to check every single terminal to make sure she's not hiding out somewhere for a later flight. And remember, she may have an accomplice." Scully directed.  
Mulder hung up his phone and I walked closer to them. "That was a motel manager in Port Reyes that says he's got a guest that matches Sally Kendrick's description."  
"We just found the car at the airport." Scully protested.  
"She might have ditched it. The manager said this woman checked in with a little girl. That she leaves the hotel in the afternoon by herself, was gone all night and returns the next day with the little girl." Mulder informed us.  
"Someone else could have picked up the little girl without the manager knowing about it. The place is crawling with vacationing families. There would be hundreds of little kids running around."  
"No, he remembers this kid. She told him he should use chlorine to irradiate the dinoflagellates in the swimming pool. Does that sound like someone we know?" Mulder questioned.  
"That's it."

Mulder, Scully, and I arrived at the motel. There were cops already there.  
Mulder, Scully, and I walked to the cop in his Prowler and he got out. "I waited like you told me. No one's gotten out and no one's gotten in." Suddenly there was a noise. "Get the back!"  
We all rushed into the hotel room.  
When I entered I saw Eve on the floor. I did warn her. Mulder looked both ways out the open window as Scully checked for a pulse.  
"They left." Cindy said from where she and Teena were huddled in the corner.  
"Who's they?" Scully asked.  
"Her and another lady." Teena answered.  
"We were all supposed to drink but we only pretended to drink it." Cindy chimed in. Yeah, right.  
"They tried to poison us." Teena spoke. The girls hugged, scared. Or were they?  
"What did the other lady look like?" Mulder asked them. They pointed at the dead Eve 7 on the floor. "Eve 8. They were working together."  
"It's alright. We'll take care of you. You're safe with us." Scully told the girls. I just glared at the two girls on the ground.

A sheet was put over Sally. Scully picked up a glass from the table. She looked at it and handed it to Mulder. "Looks like the Eves mixed about..."  
"4 ounces of digitalis in each glass." I finished.  
"Their own mini Jonestown. Eve 6 said they were prone to suicide." Mulder commented.  
"It has a sweet flavor. It's probably not even perceptible in soda." Scully murmered.  
A cop came up to us. "We're still searching the area but still no sign of the other suspect. We'll have an officer take the girls back."  
"Ah, maybe it would be better if we took responsibility for the girls." Mulder suggested.  
"We could take them to get checked out by a doctor." Scully added.  
"Okay, whatever."  
We proceeded outside and Scully walked over to Cindy and Teena."We're going to take you back."  
"Back where? What's going to happen to Teena?" Cindy asked. They got in the back seat and I slid into the seat beside them. After a moment Mulder and Scully got in.

I drifted off for a moment and when I opened my eyes again it was nighttime. Mulder was driving. Scully was in the front passenger seat and the girls were in the back with me beside them. They looked at each other.  
"Agent Mulder, I have to go to the bathroom." Cindy said.  
"Me too." Teena chimed in.  
"Can you hold it?" Mulder asked.  
"I really need to go." Cindy said.  
"I could use some caffeine." Scully said.

We drove into a truck stop and I groaned as we walked inside and to the counter.  
"Hi. Where's your bathrooms?" Mulder asked the waitress behind the counter.  
"In the back. Let me get you the key." She handed them to him.  
"Thanks." Mulder gave the woman's key to Scully and turned back to the counter. "Oh, can I get five diet sodas?"  
"Regular." Teena and Cindy said at the same time. Creeps.  
"Okay, three diet and two regular. To go. Please." Mulder corrected. Scully and the girls went to the woman's restroom. Mulder went to the men's.I sighed as a teenage boy walked up to me.  
"I'm Tom." He held out his hand.  
"I'm not interested." I repliked as I wandered over to a stand they had.  
"Oh. Don't shoot me down so fast. Who knows you might like me." He grabbed my hand and I quickly yanked it away.  
"I'm actually very sure I won't." I snapped.  
"Hey, you're feisty. I like that." He pushed me against the wall. "What do you say we get out of here for a while?"  
"What do you say either you back off?" I glared at him.  
"Oh, don't be like that."  
I sighed as Tom kept getting closer. "Sorry. You're not my type. Now get away from me."  
"Why should I?"  
"Because my father will be out in a moment." I answered.  
Tom grinned at me. "So?"  
"And because I can do this." I rammed my knee into his groin and stepped over him as he fell to the ground just as Mulder came out. We walked up behind Teena who was at the counter for some reason.  
"Those are the diet?" Mulder asked.  
Teena pointed to three drinks. "I think these are."  
Mulder took a drink. "Are you sure? These are really sweet."  
"I know they are. I saw her pour it." Teena said. I took my soda and took a long drink.  
"Okay." Mulder stated.  
Scully and the other girl came out. "Let's go."  
"Come on." Mulder gave his drink to Scully and put his hand on the back of the girl and we walked to the door. Scully and the other girl went outside with me following.  
After a moment Teena and Mulder joined us outside. Scully took a drink. "Um, tastes syrupy."  
Yes, it did, I thought as I took another long swallow.  
Mulder patted his pockets. "You didn't pick up my keys off the counter, did you?" Scully shook her head. "All right. I'll be right back."  
Scully smiled and she and the girls walked to the car. Mulder went back inside as I followed them.  
I had set my drink aside after feeling strange after my last drink. I had finished about half of mine already. Mulder burst out of the truck stop as Scully took another drink. "SCULLY!"  
"What?" Scully asked as we turned around.  
Mulder rushed down the stairs to Scully and I. "I just wanted to open the car door for you." He knocked her drink out of her hand.  
"Mulder..." Scully started, but he cut her off.  
"It's them, they poisoned them, let's just get them into the car." Mulder said quietly to Scully and I.  
I looked back, but the girls were gone.  
"I only had a sip." Mulder said.  
"We didn't drink enough to make us sick." Scully said. I've already had half of mine, I thought.  
We looked around for the girls. Mulder and Scully had their guns raised. Mulder grabbed the girls as they walked under a truck. They screamed. I glared at them.  
"SCULLY! I GOT THEM!" Mulder called.  
"LEAVE US ALONE!" The girls chorused.  
"SCULLY!" Mulder called again.  
A truck driver came with a shotgun and his wife. "HEY! What the hell are you doing?"  
Scully ran up.  
"Back off. We're federal agents." Mulder said.  
"Yeah, and these are America's Most Wanted? Hands in front." The truck driver said.  
"LEAVE US ALONE!" The girls cried again.  
"Get in the truck, girls." The girls got out of Mulder's clench. "Get in. I'm going to call the police."  
"We are the police." I said. The girls took off.  
"Mulder!" Scully cried as we searched for them again.  
"They went that way." The truck driver pointed to the truck stop. Scully and Mulder went into the truck stop again.  
After a moment Mulder and Scully came back outside outside and we got into the car. Scully drove behind a truck, paused so Mulder and I could get out, then took off after the bus and Teena and Cindy got out of a boat with a tarp on it.  
Mulder came up behind them. "Forget your sodas?"  
"We didn't do anything wrong." Teena cried.  
"We're just little girls." Cindy added.  
"That's the last thing you are." Mulder corrected.

When the rest of the cops got there I went over to Scully. "If one of us were poisoned what would the effects have been?"  
"You would feel sick, have seizures, and then you would be dead." She answered.  
"How long would that take?" I inquired.  
"About five minutes. Why?" Scully questioned as Mulder came up to us.  
"Because I drank half of my soda and it's been two hours." I answered.  
Scully looked surprised. "And you don't feel sick or anything?"  
"I feel slightly queasy, but that's it." I answered. She just looked incredulous.  
"Does she need to go to the hospital Scully?" Mulder asked.  
"No. I don't think so." Scully replied.

Later at the Reardon house Mrs. Reardon was looking at pictures of Cindy. "They said they have an excellent program that can help her."  
"They can't hide behind the bureaucracy, Mrs. Reardon. You have every right to know what happened. You have a right to know about your daughter." Mulder said.  
"All I need to know is she was not my daughter. She never was."


	12. Fire

Today I was wearing a dark red t shirt, dark blue skinny jeans, and my black combat boots with a black leather jacket.  
Mulder, Scully, and I walked to the car. Mulder was carrying a stack of books.  
"I forgot what it was like to spend a day in court." Scully commented.  
"Well, that's one of the luxuries of hunting down aliens and genetic mutants. You rarely get to press charges."  
Mulder put the books on the top of the car and reached into his pocket to take out the keys.  
Scully laughed and opened the door. "It's open."  
"What?" Mulder asked.  
"It's unlocked." Scully repeated.  
"That's weird. I'm sure I locked it." Mulder said.  
"Must be an X-File." Scully got into the car. Mulder smiled, took the books and got in the car while I slid into the backseat. "What's that?"  
I looked to see a cassette sitting on the dashboard.  
"I told you I locked the door." Mulder took the tape out of it's case and looked at it.  
"What do you think it is?" Scully inquired.  
"Ten-to-one, you can't dance to it." Mulder replied. He put the tape in and it played.  
A woman with a British accent spoke. "Greetings, Agent Mulder. Six months ago, British Minister of Parliament Reggie Ellicott received an audio cassette much like the one you are listening to now." Mulder seemed to recognize the voice and started looking around. "Unfortunately for Mr. Ellicott, when he popped the tape into the car stereo, he armed a device, which, when he tried to exit the car, created an explosion that was heard five miles away. The Scotland Yard Forensic Team could only identify the poor bastard by his dental records. If only he hadn't reached for the door handle and triggered the detonator. But then how was he to know he was sitting on enough plastique explosive to lift the car forty feet in the air and deposit the engine block on top of a three-story building?"  
The door opened and Scully gasped. A woman looked in. "Aren't we looking rather ghostly?"  
"It's an old friend." Mulder told Scully and I before he got out of the car. I quickly followed.  
"Aren't you going to thank me?" The woman asked.  
"For what?" Mulder asked.  
"Saving your life. One tends not to make the same mistake twice."  
"I'll try to remember that." Mulder said.  
"Oh, come on, don't tell me you left your sense of humor in Oxford ten years ago?"  
"No, actually. It's one of the few things you didn't drive a stake through." Mulder nearly growled.  
Scully got out of the car and looked at them. Suddenly the woman kissed Mulder. Scully seemed uncomfortable. I glared at the woman. She so wasn't on my list of people I liked.  
"You know, some mistakes are quite worth making twice." She said as she pulled away.  
"Dana Scully, River, this is Phoebe Green, terror of Scotland Yard." Mulder introduced.  
"Hello." Pheobe greeted looking at me curiously.  
"Hello." Scully said.  
"Hey. Not a pleasure to meet you." I responded.  
"She hates me." Pheobe whispered.  
"What brings you to the colonies?" Mulder questioned.

Mulder was sitting down and looking at pictures of severely charred men while I leaned over his shoulder. Phoebe was sitting across from him, Scully was standing.  
"Some clever bloke has been giving the aristocracy a good scare. Killed off a ranking member of Parliament or three for good measure. Set Windsor Castle ablaze in 1992." Phoebe said.  
"Your car bomber?" Mulder requested as I walked around him and leaned against the wall.  
"No. This one likes to burn his victims alive. Can't figure out how he does it either. Not a crumb of evidence left at the crime scene. The last one died in his front garden, his poor young wife watching helplessly as he went up in smoke."  
"The Irish Republican Army?" Mulder inquired.  
"Our suspect likes to send love letters to his victims' wives." Phoebe stood up. "Sent one to the wife of Sir Malcolm Marsden a month ago. Three days later, he narrowly escaped a fire in his garage. Burned to the ground. So they're renting a place out on Cape Cod. Bringing the family over to the states for an extended holiday or until we can catch the dirty bugger."  
"You think he's that determined?" Mulder queried.  
"Judging by his success, he seems to take a certain delight in his work."  
"So what brings you on this detour to Washington, D.C., Inspector?" Mulder asked.  
"I figured my friend Mulder couldn't resist a three-pipe problem."  
"I'll run it by our arson specialist." Mulder told her.  
"Splendid. I'll call London, let them know."  
Mulder nodded.  
Phoebe walked over to the chair, took her coat and bag, and opened the door. She turned back and looked at Scully. "Oh, goodbye."  
Scully waved goodbye. Phoebe turned to me and I glared and pointedly looked at the door. She got what she wanted now she needed to leave. She left.  
"Three-pipe problem?" Scully inquired.  
"That's, uh, from Sherlock Holmes. It's a private joke." Mulder explained.  
"How private?"  
"Um... we knew each other in school in England. She was brilliant and, uh, I got in over my head and, uh, paid the price." Mulder responded.  
"Mulder, you just keep unfolding like a flower." Scully got up.  
Mulder got up as he put on his coat. "That was over ten years ago, Scully."  
"Yeah, I noticed how you couldn't drop everything fast enough in order to help her out."  
"Oh, I was merely extending her a professional courtesy." Mulder told her.  
"Oh, is that what you were extending?"  
"Look, I'm going to run this by the arson guys and then she's on her own." Mulder said.  
"Something tells me you're not going to get rid of her that easily."  
Mulder opened the door and looked at her, then walked out. I followed after him.

Mulder was sitting in the back at the arson lab with me beside him. Phoebe was holding a remote control. On the slide viewscreen, there was a picture of fire.  
Agent Beatty, the arson specialist, stood in front of it. "Beautiful." The slide changed to more flames. "Oh, just beautiful. Look at that. Salmon red flames. This is fourteen-hundred, fifteen-hundred degrees. This is a work of art." The slide changed to a burnt body. "Was there any kind incendiary device used?"  
"Yes, actually. The victim's body." Phoebe answered.  
"Spontaneous combustion?" Beatty suggested, slightly excited.  
"He was murdered. However, we've turned up no evidence that tells us how the body caught fire." The slides went off.  
"Well, that's peculiar. People don't normally just catch on fire." Beatty stated. Scully took a peek in.  
The specialist started around the desk to Phoebe. "I mean, we burn, but we don't conduct all that well. There's usually some kind of extraneous fuel involved like candle wax, gasoline, something flammable and incendiary that adheres to the skin."  
"Like an accelerant." Green said.  
"Like an accelerant, yes."  
"But we found no trace of anything, save for a dusting of magnesium at two of the sites." Green replied.  
"That's aliphatic pyrolysis. It's a residue remaining after an exothermic reaction." I informed her. The speacialist looked at me impressed.  
"But there's no evidence of the source, no pour patterns or ignition devices."  
"There have been some arson fires in Seattle lately and, uh, Pennsylvania that burn so hot that the firemen can't put them out. 7,000 degrees. I mean, hosing that down just makes it worse."  
"How's that?" Mulder asked.  
"Uh, the, uh, reaction is so intense that it splits the water into hydrogen and oxygen. Just adds fuel to the fire." Beatty replied.  
"What were they using?"  
"We don't know for sure. Could be rocket fuel. That stuff burns so hot and clean, there's never any trace left. You see, it's very difficult to prove arson. It's driving the insurance companies nuts." He and Phoebe laughed. "Well, that's about the only explanation that I can give you."  
Mulder stood. "But there have been cases of pyrokinetics, people who can control and conduct fire."  
"Well, I've seen fire bend around corners, seen it bounce like a rubber ball. Fire's got a certain genius, you know? A certain demon poetry. It's like it's got a mind of it's own. But I've never seen one that can defy the laws of physics, not when you figure it out. You've, uh..." Beatty looked at Phoebe. "You've got quite a case for yourself here, Mulder. I almost wish I could be in your shoes."  
Mulder and Green looked at each other.

Mulder and I walked into the X-files office and I saw Scully sitting at the desk, reading a file.  
"So, Sherlock, is the game afoot?" She asked.  
"I'm afraid so, Watson. But you're off the hook on this one." Mulder said looking at Scully. I was confused.  
Mulder closed the door and Scully took off her glasses. "What do you mean?"  
"I mean I'm not going to put you through this." Mulder pulled a file out of the file cabinet and walked over to her.  
"Put me through what?" Scully demanded.  
"Phoebe's little mindgame." Mulder answered.  
"What are you talking about?"  
"There's something else I haven't told you about myself, Scully." Mulder sighed, knelt down and started digging through the bottom drawer of another file cabinet. "I hate fire. Hate it. Scared to death of it." He sighed again. "When I was a kid, my best friend's house burned down. Had to spend the night in the rubble to keep away looters. For years, I had nightmares about being trapped in a burning building." He pulled out a file and stood up.  
"Wait, and Phoebe knows about this?" Scully asked shocked.  
"This is classic Phoebe Green. Mindgame player extraordinaire. Ten years it's taken me to forget about this woman, and she shows up in my life with a case like this." Mulder replied.  
"So she shows up knowing the power she has over you and then she makes you walk through fire, is that it?" I asked.  
"Phoebe is fire." Mulder stated.  
"Mulder? Are you sure you don't want me to help you out on this one?" Scully asked.  
"Sooner or later, a man's got to face his demons." Mulder walked out.

Mulder, Phoebe, and I walked into the waiting room of a hospital.  
"I pulled this report off the wire last night. Eyewitnesses are saying that a customer in the bar caught fire but they're still looking for a body." Mulder informed us.  
"Any indication an accelerant was used?" Green inquired.  
Mulder went to the desk and signed a clipboard. "The bar's across the street from the fire station. It burned to the ground before they had a chance to even respond. The fire marshall said it burned so hot, it turned the concrete foundation into sponge cake. This was a woman who was in the bar." He knocked on a door labeled 28E. He opened the door and walked in. The woman from the bar was lying on the bed. "Hello?"  
"Hello." The woman said.  
"Miss Kotchek?" Mulder checked.  
"Yes?"  
"I'm Special Agent Mulder from the F.B.I. This is Inspector Green. And my daughter River who is also with the F.B.I."  
Mulder closed the door and sat down next to her while Phoebe stared at me in shock.  
Phoebe walked around to the other side after she got over her shock. "Can you tell us what happened in the bar last night?"  
"There was this guy. I'd had a few drinks, so... he sat next to me and he did this thing. It was like a magic trick where he lit his finger on fire." Green looked at Mulder, who took notes. "Next thing, I turned around and he was up in flames."  
"Can you describe him?" Green asked.  
"Good looking, I think. Brownish hair."  
"Long hair, short hair?" Mulder requested specifics.  
"I've already given the police the information."  
"Do you think you could work with a composite artist and come up with a sketch for us?" Mulder requested.  
"I said I had a few drinks..."  
"Can I get your full name and address?" Mulder inquired.  
"See..." The woman said. Mulder looked at her. "I live with someone. He thinks I was at school last night."  
"That's no problem. You can come down to the field office and work with somebody there. I'll give you a minute to think about it, okay?" Mulder offered. She nodded and sighed as Mulder, Green, and I walked out.  
"Deftly done, Agent Mulder. Casually disregard her indiscretion. A firm but polite manner until she accedes to cooperate." Phoebe said.  
"It's a technique I refined in my relationship with you." Mulder wrote on his pad.  
Phoebe looked down at the desk. "Oh. Yes, well, I see you haven't lost your sense of humor after all."  
Mulder looked at her. "I'm sorry, that was a cheap shot. I don't want to dredge up the past. Let's just stick to the case."  
"Let's." She took the pad from him and walked away a little.  
He walked over to her. "Look, Phoebe, I..."  
"Unless I'm mistaken, ten years seems like sufficient time to have forgiven, if not forgotten, a few youthful indiscretions." Phoebe said. Were they seriously getting into this now?  
"I'm cursed with a photographic memory." Mulder told her.  
"And don't you tell me that you've forgotten a certain youthful indiscretion. Atop Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tombstone on a misty night in Windlesham." Phoebe said. She smiled. I grimaced.  
"Like I said, just stick to the case." Mulder said.  
"Well, it occurred to me that we're going to a lot of trouble to find a description of a man who, in all likelihood, has been burnt to a crisp."  
"I would agree with you but they haven't found a body yet." Mulder walked back into her room, followed by Green and I. "So can we count on you?"  
"Yeah, okay." The woman said. Green handed Mulder a paper.  
"I don't know if it matters but I remembered something else about the guy who caught fire. He had an English accent."

Mulder, Green, and I walked down a street in Boston, Massachusetts, carrying umbrellas. Well, Mulder and Green were I was sharing with Mulder.  
"Remember those reports I told you about, about people who could control and conduct fire, pyrokinetic?" Mulder asked.  
"Faintly..."  
"I think this guy just sent us a message that he's far more exotic." Mulder stated.  
"I'd say so, I mean, he can set himself afire." Green said. Mulder laughed. "What?"  
"I'm just not used to someone so quick to agree with me. Besides River." Mulder replied.  
"Oh."  
"What kind of protection does the family have?" Mulder inquired.  
"The driver's a very capable bodyguard."  
"Well, he should look into getting a few additional men and limit public exposure." Mulder said as we reached the car.  
"Oh, they've got a party being held in their honor tonight in Boston. They're going to have to cancel."  
"Unless you wanted to set a trap." Mulder suggested.  
"I had thought of that. But we must be careful and discreet. The party's at 8:00 at the Venerable Plaza. I'll be traveling with the family so why don't you go on ahead and have a look around?" Green said. Mulder nodded and unlocked the door. "Oh, and I've taken a room at the hotel for the night."  
Mulder looked at her and sighed. She smirked and got in the car as he folded up his umbrella.

At 5:16 a bellhop lead Mulder and I into our room, putting our bags down on the floor and the key on the dresser.  
"Thanks." Mulder took out a roll of bills and handed one to the bellhop. The bellhop nodded. "All right, thank you."  
The bellhop left and Mulder looked around the huge room, then put his suitcase down on the bed.  
He sat down as the phone rang. "Mulder." He answered. After a moment he stood. "We're in Boston...What have you got?" Mulder sighed and sat down on the bed. "Yeah, yeah...No, it's just that I'm, I'm kind of anticipating having my hands full."

Mulder and I went our seperate ways when we got to the party that was being held. I was wearing black skinny jeans, my combat boots, and a light blue dress that ended at my thighs and had one longsleeve and a strap with light fabric underneath that encased my neck and my arms. My hair was down. I walked around recieving odd looks while I kept an eye out for things. Eventually I found Mulder again. He was slow dancing with Phoebe. That was when Scully stopped beside me. She rolled her eyes a little, and sighed. I looked at my watch, then turned to see a strange man standing there, smiling. I looked away and saw Mulder and Green kissing. I looked away from that and saw that the man was gone. I looked around for him, still slightly appalled that Phoebe was kissing my father, and heard a beeping noise. I turned at the same time as Scully to see a control panel with a list of the floors and lights next to them, as well as two columns of lights to the right that were for smoke and fire, respectively. The light beeped next to the 14th floor, as well as the two lights for smoke and fire for that floor. Scully ran over to Mulder and Phoebe while I headed up to the fourteenth floor.  
Upstairs, the fire danced it's way down the hallway. I paused at the door as a sharp pain stung my head. What the hell? I was useless as my vision blurred slightly and I leaned against the wall, clutching my head. I knew when Mulder had reached the door to the fourteenth floor, out of breath.  
He put his hand on the door and closed his eyes, trying to control his fear. He took a deep breath and opened the door. The hallway was covered with smoke and Mulder and I kept close to the floor, coughing.  
"Help, help!" A child fire erupted out of the hallway and Mulder stood a little, then dropped to his knees, not moving anymore. I forced myself to my feet and tried to see through the flames. Mulder coughed and started to crawl back the other way. He coughed and wheezed, slumping against the wall as firemen started up the stairs.  
My breaths were barely existant now as I fell against the wall. A man ran by carrying two kids. It was the same man I had seen before. He glanced at me, but kept running as the fire got close enough to lick my arm. I jerked away in pain and forced myself further away from the door as two firemen stopped where Mulder was, he was nearly out.  
"Here we go, got one out. Come on, buddy, come on. Come on, here we go..." The first fire man, Dale, said. They lifted him to his feet and supported him. "And we go up!"  
"You got him?" Oscar asked Dale.  
"Yup, here we go..." Dale put Mulder's arm around him and helped him off. I gasped as my head burned again and my eyes slid closed. Blackness closed in around me and I shivered despite the heat.  
Abruptly I pushed myself to my feet and ran down a flight of stairs and passed the firemen. They tried to help me, but I waved them off as I ducked into an empty room. I walked past a mirror and was surprised to see my hair wasn't singed at all. It was then I realized I wasn't breathing and I forced myself to take a deep breath. And then I was gasping as I sunk to my knees and cradled my right wrist to my chest. I hardly noticed when I started sobbing hysterically, but after about three minutes I quieted down to silently crying as I got to my feet, still gasping as if I were still next to the fire. I wiped my eyes and with effort stopped the tears. Mulder would be worried. As would Scully. My head was no longer hurting at least. I was just light headed and even that was slowly fading with the more air I pulled into my lungs.  
I sighed and forced my breathing to as normal as possible, though there was still a light hitch, before I went down to where Mulder would be.  
When I walked into the room I saw Dale and Oscar helping Mulder with an oxygen mask. Scully went over to him as he slumped to the floor. His eyes searching. Scully put her hand on Mulder's head, but he moved it off, coughing into the mask. I went outside before he could see me and walked till I found a a park bench to sit on. I let myself drift for a moment as I started coughing. Looked like it was finally catching up to me.

Later I silently walked into the room Mulder and I were sharing. Mulder was in bed with his shirt off, Scully was sitting on the bed. Mulder continued coughing and Scully handed him a glass of water, which he drank.  
"You were really out." Scully said.  
"Where's River and Phoebe?" Mulder asked.  
"Phoebe's down the hall. They haven't found River." Scully answered.  
"I'm right here." I said as I walked in, holding my right arm behind my back. My voice was barely a whisper.  
Mulder sighed, relieved. "How about the kids?"  
"Okay, the doctor checked them out." Scully answered. Mulder got up, wearing only black boxers, picked up his robe and started towards the bathroom. "What happened to you up there?"  
"I panicked. I couldn't move, Scully." Mulder said.  
"It could've happened to anyone." I said.  
"Yeah, but it happened to me. I hared out. Plain and simple. And I left you there." Mulder went into the bathroom as Phoebe walked in behind Scully.  
"What do you know about this guy that saved the kids? The driver?" I asked, still whispering.  
"I checked him out prior to the Marsdens' arrival." Phoebe said. Scully stood and looked at her as she closed the door. "He's worked on the property for eight years. No record. His references checked out. They were lucky he was here tonight."  
"Who was watching the kids tonight?" Scully inquired.  
"He was."  
"Are you sure? I could have sworn I saw him down in the hallway about the same time that the fire broke out." I said. Mulder walked out of the bathroom wearing a robe.  
"He couldn't have. Anyway, the man we're looking for is English." Phoebe told me as if I were stupid.  
"Hey." Mulder greeted. Scully and Phoebe looked at him as I pulled my black hoody on. Mulder closed his robe.  
"I came to see if you were okay." Green told him.  
"How are the kids?" Mulder asked.  
"They're fine. Everybody's anxious to get back."  
"To the cape?" Mulder questioned.  
"Only to pack. They've, uh, made travel arrangements to return to England the day after tomorrow."  
"And you?" Mulder asked.  
"I'll be leaving in a few days." Phoebe said. Mulder nodded. "Look, I'll give you a ring back at the Bureau before I leave."  
"Right." Mulder said.  
Phoebe walked to the door and looked at Scully. "Goodbye."  
She left and Mulder went to sit down on the couch.  
"You all right?" Scully asked.  
He sat down and put his feet up on the table. "Yeah."  
"You at all interested in what I came up here to show you?"  
"Yeah." He answered again.  
Scully sat down across from him and unlocked her briefcase. "Well, I did a little checking of my own. I didn't know a whole lot about arson or arsonists so I took the opportunity... for my own edification, of course." Mulder smiled and Scully pulled a paper out of her briefcase and gave it to Mulder. "I ran a profile of possible incendiary fuels and accelerants that could have been used in the crimes." I sat down beside Mulder and read over his shoulder. The list said "Representative Liquid Propelant Fuels" at the top and listed a number of fuels, their densities and heat of concentration. The fuels were: Argotypoline, Ammonia (Liquid), Ballium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon (qr), Decarbonate and a few others. "I also took the liberty of running a search through Interpol of all the gardeners, manservants and domestic help that were hired by the murder victims at the time of their death." She handed him that list.  
"And?" Mulder asked.  
"And these people probably don't even tie their own shoes. There were over two-hundred names. And not a duplicate. Except one. A "Cecil L'Ively." He worked as a gardener for two of the victims." Scully said.  
"What did you find on him?" Mulder requested.  
"Nothing."  
"So he's clean." Mulder stated.  
"Apparently, he was questioned by Scotland Yard and they released him but I dug a little further. Cecil L'Ively is a documented citizen of Great Britain, paid his taxes, never been on the dole, a model citizen until he died in 1971 in a London tenement fire." Scully continued. Mulder looked at her strangely. "I know, that's what I thought. So, I checked a little further. Cecil L'Ively, spelled "L apostrophe," came up again. In fact, it came up twice. First, on a list of death certificates listed among a group of children who died in ritual sacrifice by a satanic cult in 1963 in the Toddingham Woods outside Bath, England."  
"Where else did you find him?" Mulder asked.  
"You're going to love this. On a list of recent visas issued by the British government. Cecil L'Ively's passport was stamped by U.S. immigration officials two weeks ago at the port of entry in Boston."  
Mulder looked around, stood and took off his robe. "Call the local field office in Boston of the F.B.I. and get them to fax to you the composite that the witness did of the man who burned down the bar and then get them to fax it to every local law enforcement agency in the area." He picked up his suit.  
"What are you going to do?"  
"I'm going to try and catch Phoebe, this guy could be waiting for them in Cape Cod." Mulder ran into the bathroom.

Mulder and I ran in the front door and found we had interrupted an embrace between Green and Marsden on the stairs.  
They pulled away from each other, and Marsden cleared his throat. "Excuse me." He walked up the stairs. Phoebe walked tentatively to Mulder and I.  
"His name is Cecil L'Ively." Mulder said.  
"Who?"  
"Your arsonist. Where's the rest of the family?" Mulder asked.  
"They went outside for a walk."  
"Well, go find them. We've got to get them packed and get them out of here." Mulder told her.  
She looked at him, then walked away.

Later Scully arrived. "It's the driver."  
"I know. He disappeared." Mulder said.  
"What's the matter?"  
"Nothing, um... I found this out in the garage." Mulder handed her the can of argotypoline. "It's been very hard on the family."  
Phoebe and Sir and Lady Marsden ran down the stairs. "Did you get the composite?"  
"Yes." Scully said.  
"I don't believe it, I can't believe it. He's worked for us for over ten years." Lady Marsden said.  
"Well, obviously there's been some type of mistake." Her husband replied. Scully handed him the rendition of L'Ively. "Oh..."  
"Oh my God!" Lady Marsden exclaimed.  
"This isn't the driver, it's the caretaker!"  
"And he's upstairs with the children!"  
Mulder looked up the stairs. Sitting on a dresser was the bottle of Pembroke's cough syrup.  
Scully walked past the room. "Michael?"  
Mulder and I walked in. "Michael? Jimmie?" Mulder looked at the cough syrup as Scully walked in. He opened the bathroom door and I saw a charred husk of the driver, kneeling over the toilet as if he was vomiting when he died. "It looks like we found the missing driver."  
Phoebe called from down the hall. "Mulder! In here, quickly!"  
We ran in and I saw the other three looking at the drapes, which had caught fire.  
"What's going on?" Lady Marsden asked.  
"They just went up all by themselves."  
Mulder looked around for something when the painting hanging over the bed behind him erupted in flames.  
"My God!" Malcolm cried. Mulder took a sheet and tried in vain to put out the fires. The bed then started burning. Phoebe and Lady Marsden screamed a little.  
"Everybody out!" Mulder yelled. We ran out, Mulder closing the door behind him. Malcolm grabbed his wife's hand. "I think he rigged the whole house." Mulder smelled the sheet he was carrying. "It's fuel." Mulder dropped the sheet as it caught fire.  
We started running down the hall and down the stairs. Everyone but me was coughing.  
"Scully, see if you can find a fire extinguisher. Everybody else, outside." Mulder ordered. Scully walked off to get one.  
"But what about the children?" Miss marsden asked.  
"I'll take care of the children. Go!" Mulder ordered.  
The Marsdens walked out and Phoebe grabbed Mulder's arm. "Are you going to be okay, Mulder?"  
"Oh yeah. I'll be fine. There's no place I'd rather be." Mulder took out his gun and him and me ran up the stairs. He looked around down the hallway then we walked slowly, the only sound his footsteps. We passed a few doors before I heard some noise in one. The dog barked inside the room. Mulder tried the doorknob, but it was locked. "Michael? Jimmie?"  
"Help..." Micheal called. I could hear the children coughing. Mulder hit the door with his shoulder a few times.  
"Time to call 911." L'ively's voice cut in.  
Mulder spun around and pointed his gun at him in one fluid motion. "Don't move!"  
L'Ively raised his hands and snapped his fingers with the left one. The hallway literally exploded in flames, the paintings catching fire one by one down the hall. The fire rose to the ceiling as Mulder and I stared in awe. Mulder and I jumped backwards to the ground as the paintings where we were standing burst into flames as well. As the flames covered the ceiling, L'Ively turned and started down the stairs. I gasped as the fire licked my already burned wrist.  
That was when I heard Scully's voice. "Freeze! Federal agent."  
"You won't shoot me." L'ively said.  
"Stay right where you are."  
"See? Cause you don't know the spark from that round won't blow this whole house to kingdom come."  
"Back off the gun! It's the accelerant!" Was that Phoebe?  
"No!"  
Mulder stared at the fire while the boys screamed. I was still in pain otherwise I would have done something about it. Mulder took a deep breath and started moving slowly, staying very low to the ground, hands on the walls. He let out a slight scream of pain and winced, pulling back his hand when he touched a hot part of the wall. That woke me up and I slowly sat up. Mulder rammed his elbow into the door twice, knocking it open the second time. I hurried down the stairs when I saw that Mulder was handling the situation. After a couple of minutes, Mulder ran out the door carrying Michael and Jimmie.  
"Oh Michael! Jimmie!" Lady Marsden cried in relief followed by her husband. The boys ran into their parents' arms.  
L'Ively stopped and turned back to the house. He laughed insanely as he burst into flame. "You can't kill me!" Scully slowly lowered her gun as we all watched him spin around, laughing. "You can't fight fire with fire!" He finally stopped laughing as he fell to the ground, his body burning.

Mulder sat at his desk, wearing glasses, thinking. My burn had been bandaged and treated by now.  
"Care to take me to lunch?" Scully asked from the doorway in an english accent. Mulder looked back to see Scully at the door, smiling. "Scare you?"  
"You have no idea." Mulder replied.  
"Where is Phoebe?" She sat down on the desk.  
"I don't know." Mulder answered.  
"You don't know? She didn't call?"  
"No. She did messenger this to me last night though." He held up a tape.  
"Did you play it?"  
"No." He looks at it.  
"Why not? Aren't you curious what's on it?"  
"Ten-to-one, you can't dance to it." Mulder said before he got up.


	13. Beyond the Sea

Mulder was reading a file while I read a book. Today I was wearing dark blue jeans, black T-shirt, and white sneakers.  
Scully snuck up behind him and looked over his shoulder. "Last time you were that engrossed, it turned out you were reading the Adult Video News."  
"I didn't think you'd be in today. How are you, Dana?" Mulder inquired.  
""Dana." I'm fine, thank you. What are you working on?"  
"Two days ago, a couple was kidnapped at Jackson University. Elizabeth Hawley and James Summers, both 19." Mulder showed her the picture of the couple. "Last year, another couple was kidnapped to the day except that abduction occured at Duke University. One week later, they found both students' bodies dead."  
Scully looked over the file. "They were kept alive, tortured through that period."  
"No arrests were ever made. Police believed it to be a one-time offender but now it appears to be a serial incident. Anyway, if he holds true to form, we have five days to find those kids." Mulder informed her.  
"That's a grim deadline."  
"Well, here's another grim deadline." Mulder reached over and picked up a folder off a desk. He gave it to Scully. "In one week, Luther Lee Boggs will take a seat in the North Carolina gas chamber."  
"How is he related?"  
"He claims to have information relating to the kidnapping. He described Hawley's bracelet down to the last detail. This is information that only family members could have known." Mulder answered.  
"Or the kidnapper."  
"Boggs feels that if his talents help save these kids then his sentence should be reduced to life in prison." Mulder said.  
"His talents?"  
"He claims to have obtained this information through psychic transmission." Mulder went over and sat at his desk.  
"Mulder, do I detect a hint of skepticism?"  
"Perhaps." Mulder replied as Scully sat down opposite him. "Boggs has been there before... in the chamber. My profile helped send him there. He was actually strapped to the chair before recieving an executive stay. He claims that this experience activated in him the ability to channel spirits and demons. I believe in psychic ability, without a doubt, but not in this case. Not Boggs."  
"So you believe that Boggs is orchestrating the kidnapping from the inside. A scam to save his life?"  
Mulder nodded and handed her a file. "At the age of six, Luther Boggs slaughtered every pet animal in his housing project. When he was thirty, he strangled five family members over Thanksgiving dinner and then sat down to watch the fourth quarter of the Detroit - Green Bay game. Some killers are projects of society. Some act out past abuses. Boggs kills because he likes it."  
"And they've requested you speak with him?"  
Mulder got up. "Actually, he's requested to speak to me."  
"Why you?"  
Mulder put his gun in his holster. "He read my profile on him and he believes I'm the only one who truly understands what he is. Anyway, I leave for Raleigh this afternoon."  
"I'll go with you." Scully stood. "The funeral's at noon."  
"I think you should take some time." Mulder told her.  
"I need to work."  
"I'm sorry about your father."  
He put his hand on her cheek in comfort. Scully nodded and I put down my book and pulled a red hoody on before going over to the door to wait. "I'll see you later."  
"Okay." Scully whispered. Mulder took his coat and left after I told him I would catch up.  
"I would like to say I'm sorry for your loss, but I'm not sure if you would appricieate that. So, I'll just say I wish you had gotten more time with him." I told Scully before I turned to the door.  
"Thank you." She said and I smiled before leaving.

Mulder, Scully, and I were at Central prison in Raleigh, North Carolina. Luther Lee Boggs sat in a chair, handcuffs on. On his left hand, the word "Kiss" was written on his knuckles. On the right, the word "Kill." He creeped me out.  
"The soul of Luther Boggs drowns in hell's sea of fire. We have him now." Boggs said.  
Scully was sitting, Mulder was standing while I leaned against the wall, one foot braced against it and arms crossed.  
"We? You mean the souls of your victims?" Mulder inquired.  
"The dead. The living. All souls are connected."  
"And you're the conduit?" Mulder asked as he sat down.  
Boggs' breathing became labored. His whole speech and movement pattern changed to a more womanly tone. "Uh... Dana... River... Fox... please understand that from here, we can return to the past. We can see the present. We can know the future."  
"From here? Where exactly are you?" Mulder asked.  
Boggs' mood changed back to the previous one. "Mr. Boggs must be made redemptive for his transgressions."  
Mulder stood. "That's exactly what the state of North Carolina intends to do next week."  
Boggs' tone and movement became more of a Brooklyn man. "No. Uh-uh. Let's deal. Boggs' life for the kids, you know what I'm saying?"  
"First you've got to prove you're telling the truth." Mulder said. Boggs looked at him warily and Mulder pulled a small package out of his pocket. "Don't get me wrong, Luther. I want to believe." He pulled a piece of blue cloth out of the bag, which Boggs took.  
Boggs' breathing became heavier as he rubbed the cloth between his hands, bringing it up to his mouth. "Oh... ah... oh, God, no. Must stop. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop! Pain! I'm in... pain, terrible pain..." Mulder sat on the table, smiling slightly. "Uh... the boy, uh, Jim... he's tied with twine. Uh, packing twine." Boggs held his wrists out. He began spouting short screams, holding the cloth to his face, fists clenched. "Uh, he, he whip, he whips them with a, a coat hanger, a wire coat hanger. Oh." His breathing became labored as he looked up at Mulder with wild eyes. "Dark place. Cold. Cellar. Warehouse, condemned. An angel... of stone. Waterfall. Water falling. It's, it's not a waterfall. Not water. They're there. Oh, God. I got to go. I got to go. I, I got to go." Boggs slumped down in his chair.  
Mulder walked over slowly and knelt down in front of his face. He took the cloth out of his hand and held it up.  
"I tore this off my New York Knicks t-shirt. It has nothing to do with the crime." Mulder got up and left. Scully picked up her briefcase and started out.  
"Somewhere... beyond the sea..." Boggs sang. Scully stopped. "Somewhere... waiting for me..." She turned around. Boggs looked up. She backed away a little, startled, in emotional pain, eyes closed. She opened them and looked at Boggs. His tone had now assumed that of William Scully's. How I knew that I didn't know. "Did you get my message, Starbuck?" Scully rushed out.  
"You prey on people's emotions because you can't face your own, isn't that right?" I asked.  
"I've faced my demons. What about you?" Boggs asked. "Have you even thought about how Robert dragged you down into the room below the basement? Or is it reserved for your dreams only?"  
"How did you know about that?" I demanded.  
"I already told you." Boggs answered. I slowly followed after Scully and Mulder, thoughts of the torture room running through my head. The tomb and the whips. No. Right now I needed to focus.  
Scully was at the door and after a moment she slowly turned around to face Mulder and I.  
"Scully, what's wrong? Did Boggs say something to you?" Mulder asked.  
"No. It's my father. I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Scully trailed off.  
"It's alright. Why don't you go back to the motel? We've exposed Boggs as a fraud. Boggs is not what he claims to be. He may be orchestrating the kidnapping. Now he knows that we're on to him, he doesn't have a chance with this charade. I'm going to wait around a couple of hours and try to interrogate him. Hopefully, he'll tell me where the kids are." Mulder told her.  
"I'm staying with you." I said. "Scully...I hope you feel better soon."  
Boggs walked out behind us, a security guard on each side leading him back to his cell. "Somewhere... beyond the shore... we'll kiss just as before... happy we'll be... beyond the sea..." The door opened and Scully rushed out. "And never again..." Boggs sang as he looked over to Mulder and I. "He will find you again. You can't hide forever." He told me.  
I glared at him. "I know. But neither can you."  
With that the gaurds took him away. Mulder looked at me confused.  
"What was he talking about?" Mulder questioned.  
"I'd rather not talk about it. It's not important right now." I answered before going over to a bench and sitting down.

Mulder and I headed for Scully's room and Mulder knocked when we arrived. "It's Mulder and River." Scully opened the door. "I just heard that Liz Hawley's family made a positive ID on the charm you found at the warehouse. The police are searching that place inch-by-inch but they haven't been able to find anything yet. I expected to find you at the crime scene."  
Scully went over and put the chairs away as Mulder and I walked in. "Did Boggs confess?"  
"No, no, just five hours of Boggs' channeling. After three hours, I asked him to summon up the soul of Jimi Hendrix and requested "All Along the Watchtower." You know the guy's been dead for twenty years and he still hasn't lost his edge." Mulder replied.  
"I lied to the police about how I found the warehouse. I didn't notice any suspicious activities."  
"Then how did you find it?" Mulder queried.  
"It was where Boggs said it would be."  
"Scully, I told you about Boggs..." Mulder stopped as Scully cut him off.  
"I didn't go looking for it! I came across an area that had landmarks he spoke of..."  
"That doesn't matter! That's exactly what Boggs wanted! He could have been setting you up! You could be dead right now! Why did you lie in your police report?" Mulder's voice quieted at the end.  
"I thought it would be a better explanation under the circumstances."  
"What you're really saying is that you didn't want to go on record admitting that you believed in Boggs! The bureau would expect something like that from "Spooky" Mulder, but not Dana Scully." Mulder countered.  
"I thought that you'd be pleased that I opened myself to extreme possibilities."  
"Why now? After all we've seen, why Boggs?" Mulder asked as he sat down. He had a point. "Does this have to do with your father?" She shook her head. "You said that he didn't approve of you becoming an FBI agent. Now, if being on the job now makes you feel guilty or uncomfortable or uneasy, I think you should back away because if it's clouding your judgement, you're putting yourself in danger."  
"I love this job." Scully said.  
"You love your father." Mulder quipped. About to cry Scully walked to the other side of the room. "Dana... open yourself up to extreme possibilities only when they're the truth. That goes for Luther Boggs... and your father. As for Luther Boggs, he's the greatest of lies." He stood up and went to her. They both sat down. "I know he's working with someone on the outside and they planted that evidence. Now, we have to be very careful about planning our next move because he's five steps ahead. The one advantage we have is time." He held up a newspaper. An article at the bottom had the headline "Gas Chamber Tested for Boggs' Execution."

The next day I wore blue skinny jeans, my combat boots and a dark purple longsleeved T-shirt before we went to the central prison. Scully sat at a desk, looking at her watch while I watched her.  
Mulder came over and put a paper down in front of us. "Scully, look at this." The headline read "Kidnapped College Students Found Safe." Under that, it read "Police seek suspect." That's not true.  
"Incredible! They found them?" Scully asked.  
"That's exactly what I want Boggs to think." Mulder said as he sat down. Oh now it made sense.  
"I don't understand, why didn't the police notify us?"  
"They haven't been found, the article is bogus. The Carolinian made this one up just for us, only six people know about it. Later on today, Boggs gets his weekly phone priviliges. Hopefully, he'll call his accomplice to find out what happened." Mulder explained.

Mulder and I looked at a camera into Boggs' room, seeing Boggs sit down on his cot and read, and then his watch. Scully sat behind us.  
"Phone privilige is in two hours." The gaurd said. Boggs was lead down the hall by two security guards. Mulder, Scully, some security guards, some suit-and-ties, and I watched as he was lead into a room with a phone. Boggs ran his hands through his hair then picked up the phone and started dialing.  
Scully leaned over to the man next to her. "Go." The man started the tape recorder and Boggs looked directly at the camera as he put the phone to his ear. In the security room, a phone started ringing.  
"Turn off that phone. Turn it off." Mulder said. They all looked for the phone until I saw Mulder's jacket.  
"Mulder, it's you." Scully said.  
Mulder reached into his coat pocket, pulled out his cell phone, pulled up the antenna, pushed a button, and put it to his ear. "Mulder."  
Boggs was on the other end. "How come you don't believe me?" Mulder looked at the monitor. Boggs was looking right back at him. "Agent Scully believes me."  
"Agent Scully believes what we all believe. That you have the kids. Now where are they?" Mulder demanded.  
Boggs dropped the phone and moaned.  
Scully stood. "Mulder... even if he is setting us up, we have to follow because in three days..."  
"Liz Hawley and Jim Summers will be dead." Mulder finished.  
"And then a day later, our only connection to the case will be pulling up a chair at the gas chamber." Scully added. In the monitor, Boggs was breathing heavy and labored. "We have to deal."

Later in the interrogation room, Boggs sat in the same chair. His breathing was heavy. Mulder sat across from him and I stood beside Mulder.  
"The kidnapper is aroused by the prospect of becoming a killer." Boggs said.  
"What's the name?" Mulder asked.  
"Can't see... male..."  
"Describe him." Mulder told him.  
"Small... thin... late twenties... skull...Human skull...Silver gray... his eyes, cold, very cold...Staring at Elizabeth..." Boggs grimaced and choked on his words. "God, he's got the wire...No... please, no..." Boggs reacted as if he was struck.  
"Where is he?" Mulder demanded.  
"He's over... over... by the window...Holding back... holding back his thoughts of killing us... waiting... there's a small boathouse on Lake Jordan." Boggs continued.  
Mulder looked back at Scully, who wrote it down in her notepad. "Did you get that?"  
Scully closed her notepad and put it and her pen away. She and Mulder got up. A buzz was heard and the door opened. We started to walk out.  
"Mulder..." Boggs called. "Don't go near the white cross. We see you down... and your blood spills on the white cross." We walked out.

Scully and Mulder lead the way as a team of FBI agents went to the main door. I had my daggers and I stayed behind Mulder. I couldn't use a gun, but I was very efficient with blades. An agent kicked down the door and we all ran in.  
"Do you see anything?"  
"Negative."  
Scully, Mulder, and I saw Elizabeth on the floor. Scully ran over to check her. "Sweep the docks!"  
While the agents started filing out, Mulder checked down a passage way. "Federal agent!" I heard him yell and I took off running to where he was.  
A gunshot froze me in place, but I was soon moving again when Mulder screamed. "Dad!"  
"Mulder!" Scully called. Scully and I rushed to Mulder's side. "We need an ambulance... officer down!" She undid her coat, took it off and draped it over Mulder. Turning around quickly, I saw a giant white cross towering over us. Mulder's blood was on it.

Two men wheeled Mulder into an emergency room. Mulder was wearing an oxygen mask. I could feel tears running down my face which soon turned into sobs as I slid down the wall and pulled my knees to my chest while they worked on him.  
"What do we got?" A paramedic asked.  
"Through and through upper femur..."  
"Can't palpate a radial pulse..."  
"Okay, I want a B.P. on this stat... get him on the gurney."  
"One, two, three..."  
The paramedics lifted him off the wheeler and onto the gurney. Mulder coughed and shook as Scully walked in.  
"Blood pressure is 67 on palpatation."  
"Okay, tighten him and screen him for six, I want two liters of normal saline in him now and give him two units of o-neg after the typing. Let's transfer now."

I curled up in a chair next to Mulder's bed when they had moved him into a room. Sometime later he woke up and I gave him a hug being careful of his injury as Scully walked in. She sat down and I let my head rest on the railing of the bed. "There's still no sign of Lucas Henry or Jim Summers. The Raliegh police said..." Scully said.  
"No matter what, don't believe him. Boggs created this whole charade to get back at me for putting him on death row. You'd be the next best thing." Mulder said. He still sounded weak.  
"Mulder, I never thought I'd say this... but what if there's another explanation?"  
"Don't... deal with him. He could be trying to claim you as his last victim." Mulder warned.

I went with Scully to catch Henry after a couple of hours.  
"Freeze!" An agent cried.  
Henry stopped and turned around. Agents rushed in, guns armed.  
Scully took the point, aiming at Henry while I stayed beside her. "Federal agents, we're armed! Drop your weapon."  
Henry slowly lowered his weapon. He raised it to throw but Scully shot him in the side of the chest. He screamed and recoiled as Scully and a few agents started to chase after him. Henry dropped the hatchet and ran as the other agents checked on Jim.  
Henry ran down the hall, crashing into the wall and heaving. The agents stopped at stairs, getting on either side of the fixture before it.  
"Go!" Scully yelled.  
An agent ran up the stairs and was hit with a metal barrel in the face. The agent fell down the stairs as Henry ran. Scully, another agent, and I ran after Henry while another checked on the fallen one. Henry ran into a dark room where rats were squeaking. Scully, the agent, and I went into the room. I went left, he went right with Scully. Scully ran in, gun poised, but she lowered it when she saw the devil. I was ahead of her with my daggers crossed in front of my chest. Henry looked at me and I heard a creak under his foot. He looked down to see the boards breaking under his feet.  
I rushed forward to try to catch him as he fell through, screaming until a crash was heard. Scully looked over the railing with me to see Henry, dead two or three flights down. Scully sat down on the stairs as another agent ran in.  
I looked at the blue devil on the wall.

Later at the hospital Scully sat at the foot of Mulder's bed while I sat in the chair beside it.  
"I was considering Boggs. If he knew that I was your partner, he could have found out everything he knew about me. About my father..." Scully trailed off.  
"Scully." Mulder said softly.  
She got up and walked around to him. ""Beyond the Sea" was playing at my parents' wedding. Visions of deceased loved ones are a common psychological phenomena. If he knew that my father had..."  
"Dana. After all you've seen, after all the evidence, why can't you believe?" Mulder asked her.  
She sighed and sat down on his bed. "I'm afraid. I'm afraid to believe."  
"You couldn't face that fear? Even if it meant never knowing what your father wanted to tell you?" Mulder inquired.  
"But I do know."  
"How?" Mulder questioned.  
"He was my father."  
Mulder nodded and put his hand on her shoulder.


	14. Gender Bender

Mulder, Scully, and I were in Germantown, Maryland, outside washington looking at a crime scene. I was wearing dark blue jeans, a light red shortsleeved top, and a pair of white sneakers.  
A photographer was taking pictures of the scene while Mulder examined the man's body. Scully stood to the side talking with Detective Horton. I was listening in.  
"New York businessman calls his wife to say good night, then goes out and picks up some chippy. He brings her back here for sex. Beyond that, well, nothing makes a whole lot of sense." Horton informed.  
"How's that?" Scully asked.  
"Security monitor records the victim entering the room with a woman at 10:13. Same monitor records a male leaving just after midnight."  
"Couldn't she just have changed clothes?"  
They thought of that. Male was definitely a different person - short hair and at least 30 pounds heavier. The video never recorded his entry, nor the girl ever leaving." I said, calmly.  
"How did you know that?" Horton demanded. Actually everyone, but Mulder was looking at me. I shrugged.  
"Well, we're 30 floors up, no other means of egress. Did the medical examiner establish a cause of death?" Scully asked slowly.  
"Guy blew an artery. Must have been some roll in the hay."  
Mulder looked up at Scully, who showed no reaction to the Detective's comment. "Hard to imagine in this day and age someone having sex with a perfect stranger. Any sign of robbery?"  
"The male exited wearing the victim's suit, carrying a suitcase. The wallet's gone."  
"You know, I don't even know why we got this call in the first place."  
"Really? Somebody at the Bureau put out a memo requesting any case involving this exact COD. I assumed it was ..."  
"Thanks for the call." Mulder cut in.

Mulder and Scully were looking at slides of several dead bodies, all lying in bed in various stages of undress.  
"Five deaths. Four in the last six weeks between here and Boston. In each case, the victim dies in the throes of passion. Two women and three men, including the last one." Mulder said.  
"All young, healthy adults." I added.  
"All with symptoms of massive coronary arrest." Mulder continued.  
"You think there's a new drug on the streets?" Scully questioned.  
"The oldest drug, not even illegal. Each body showed the presence of huge amounts of pheromones." Mulder stated.  
"The chemicals animals secrete? You mean, sexual attractants?" Scully checked.  
"Radar love. Only about a hundred times stronger than found anywhere in nature, strong enough to product anaphylactic shock or a coronary." Mulder responded.  
"So you think somebody is synthesizing them?"  
"It's been done, but in nowhere near these concentrations and hold on to your hat, Scully, 'cause you're gonna love this. The pheromones we're talking about - they contain human DNA." Mulder said.  
"Well, there's still a question as to whether humans can produce pheromones. So how can that be?"  
"I don't know. But if it's true, then this guy is a walking aphrodysiac. He's the ultimate sex magnet." Mulder stated.  
"He or she? You've got victims of both sexes. Both a man and a woman on the hotel security monitor."  
"I know. That is a puzzle." Mulder admitted.  
"So what is our profile of the killer? Indeterminate height, weight, sex. Unarmed but extremely attractive."  
"It gets weirder. As I said, there's been four deaths matching this MO in the last six weeks - in Boston, Hartford, Philadelphia and here in Washington." Mulder circled the cities on a map that was being displayed with an overhead projector.  
"The killer's moving south." I chimed in.  
"There was a death I made a note of about a year ago with the same symptoms. A 32 year-old UMW labor organizer was found dead outside a town called Steveston in the woods of Massachusetts, home to a sect of religious isolationists called 'The Kindred'." Mulder showed some slides showing 'The Kindred'.  
"Right. They live up there without electricity, phones, any modern amenities, a lot like the Amish." Scully said.  
"The Kindred are known for their handmade stoneware pottery. They mine the clay themselves in the local hills." Mulder informed.  
"What's so weird about that?"  
"The white clay in those hills is particular to that region. It's also the same substance I scraped out of the scratches on the latest victim's sides." Mulder explained.  
"Well, wait a minute. Aren't these people famous for their abstinence and their pure Christian ways?"  
"Yes, but it looks as if one of them may have forgotten to clean under his fingernails." Mulder replied.

Mulder, Scully, and I were walking along Main Street in Steveson, Massacuseatts. We entered a store run by a man and woman.  
"Hi." The woman greeted.  
"Excuse me, ma'am, this is federal Agent Scully, I'm Agent Mulder. This is River." Mulder introduced.  
"We're investigating a possible murder." Scully chimed in.  
"Oh, there aren't many killings around here." The woman protested.  
"What can you tell me about the Kindred? They keep pretty much to themselves, huh?" Mulder inquired.  
"Yeah, some folks say it's because they're doing ceremonies up there. Voodoo or something. I've got nothing against them, myself. They bring in the tourists." The man answered.  
I looked at a number of framed pictures on the wall behind the counter. There were several spots where the frames had been taken down. "Did the Kindred let you take those pictures?"  
"Oh, those. Those are from back in the thirties." The man told me.  
"What about the missing ones?" Mulder questioned.  
"I'm having them reframed. They're right here under the counter."  
"Can I take a look at them?" Mulder requested.  
"Sure." The man brought out several additional photographs that Mulder inspected. Outside, a wagon with about a half dozen people, all clothed in black, was being pulled up the street by a pair of horses.  
"How would I get up to see them?" Mulder asked.  
"Oh, they don't like strangers up there much. Road's in pretty rough shape." The man handed Mulder a map. "That's Steveston." The wagon passed the front of the store. "That's them now. They usually shop at the feed store."  
The wagon stopped in front of the feed store. Those riding in the wagon got off and all but one went into the store. One stayed with the horses.  
Mulder, Scully, and I approached, and Mulder tried to get the attention of three of them as they were entering the store.  
"Excuse me. Ladies?" They payed no attention and entered the store so Mulder turned to Scully and I. "I think I'm gonna go inside." He changed his tone to that of a rural accent. "You need anything from the feed store?"  
Scully shook her head, and followed Mulder.  
I remained outside and tried to strike up a conversation with the one tending the horses. "Hi."  
He didn't respond so I walked past him and stroked the neck of one of the horses. He was giving me chills, but I had to get some answers, didn't I?  
"She must have problems on the asphalt. Has she ever thrown a shoe?" I questioned. The guy looked away. "What's her name?"  
"Alice." He said, seemingly shy.  
"That's sweet. Did you name her?" I wondered.  
"We named her all together. I'm not allowed to talk outside." The man said.  
"That's all right." I extended my hand. "I'm River Mulder. I don't mean for you to get in trouble."  
He hesitated, then reached out and I smiled reassuringly. As we shook hands, the guy stroked the top of my hand with his thumb. I stared at him as I felt my stomach coil.  
The other Kindred emerged from the store. "Brother Andrew." Andrew released my hand and got back on the wagon.  
I felt very disoriented as Scully and Mulder came out of the store. "River, what are you doing?"  
"I was just talking ..." My voice trailed off on the last syllable and I felt confusion.  
Mulder looked at me concerned. "You all right?"  
"Yeah, I think so." I murmered.  
"You want to sit down?" Mulder asked me. I didn't respond as the wagon pulled away from the store, and Mulder, Scully, and I watched them go up the street. "Interesting way of life. You get any sense about them?"  
"There's something up there, Mulder." Scully said.  
"Oh, I've been saying that for years." Mulder teased.

Late afternoon, Mulder parked the car as the road became very rough and pulled out the map that he was given at the store. He flipped it several times, trying to orient it properly. "Oh, for a 4-wheel drive. Looks like about a mile walk."  
"After you." Scully said.

Shortly afterwards, Mulder was still struggling with the map. "Now ... this ... that's west."  
"What does the map say?" I asked.  
"That we should be there already." Mulder answered annoyed. He crumpled the map into a ball and punted it upwards.  
Scully caught it and sighed. "Mulder, look." We were quickly surrounded by about a dozen of the Kindred who closed in on us. "We're FBI agents. Federal police."  
"I'm Agent Mulder, this is Agent Scully and this is River. We're here to investigate a murder." Mulder added.  
"I'm going to have to ask you to remain at a distance, please, sir." Scully said pulling her gun.  
"Your weapons are forbidden here. We can outlast you at this spot. You're not leaving where we stand until your guns are handed to our Council. You'll have them again, as you leave." One of the men said.  
"We can't do that." Mulder told him.  
"Please. I'm Sister Abby. This is Brother Oakley. We're all saddened by what has happened in your world, but it does not concern us. Up here, no one kills another - ever." A girl informed us.  
"We just want to have a few questions answered." Scully insisted.  
"It is your weapons that are unwelcome here, not you. Come and pray with us, be one of us, and you'll see that we harm no one. Please relinquish your weapons." Abigail explained. Scully and Mulder exhanged a glance. "Please."  
After several moments, Mulder nodded and he and Scully removed the clips from their guns and handed the clips to the Kindred while I pulled out my daggers.  
"Now there is no reason to be afraid." Abigail said. Mulder, Scully, and I walked with the Kindred back to their house. On the way, I saw members working in a hayfield, chopping wood and hanging out clothes. We entered the dining room in the main house.  
"Come. Sit." Oakley invited. Mulder, Scully, eight members of the Kindred, including Brother Andrew, and I sat around the table.  
"Let us pray as one. We who are separate give thanks for our alloted time in this world. We ask for strength that we may bring forth the bounty that God has provided." Abigail started. As they prayed, one brother was coughing, and Andrew and I exchanged an awkward glance on his part while I was confused. "Amen." All of them said. "We pray for the day of the coming, the moment of our release." "Amen." They all chorused again. "Let us eat." Food was then served.  
"I was wondering if we might ask a few questions. We're looking for someone we believe may have come from here." Mulder started.  
"We have pictures." Scully added.  
"We do not allow pictures." Abigail protested.  
"A crime has been committed. We have certain questions that we need answered, if you'll forgive us." I countered.  
"What are these pictures?" Andrew asked.  
"Hotel security videos of a man and a woman who may have committed a murder." I reticently responded.  
"Where was this crime committed?"  
"In a hotel in Washington, DC." I told him.  
"If we can arrange for you to look at the video tape, maybe you can identify the individual." Mulder suggested.  
"How much violence has this person caused in your world?" Andrew requested.  
"Five murders, so far." Mulder answered.  
"And may kill again, which is why we need your help." Scully chimed.  
"Has anyone left here recently?" Mulder inquired.  
"Your world does not interest us. We have no need for your violence or your questions. I've said what is needed. They have no right to be here at this time." One of the men said after slamming his hand on the table.  
Sister Abigail, at the other end of the table from the man, stood. "Brother Wilton, stand." He did so. "Before we can accept any man's person, we must accept our own. And I ask, who can stand in your sight when once you are angry. I am ashamed to lift up my face, and I shall not be ashamed in this evil time. Make atonements for this wrath, Brother Wilton." Brother Wilton looked downward.  
"That's all right. We didn't take any offense." Mulder said.  
"Anger, as violence, is not tolerated. Our brother must be admonished." One of the other men informed us. The brother who was coughing earlier was now gagging, grasping his throat.  
"He can't breathe." I said.  
"He does not need your help." Abigail told me.  
"He's choking to death!" Scully exclaimed and stood, moving around the table to assist the man.  
"Remove Brother Aaron from the dining hall." Abigail ordered. One of the brothers grabbed Scully by the arm to stop her, while several brothers lifted Brother Aaron and carried him out of the room. "We did not invite you here to interfere."  
"We take care of our own." Andrew insisted.

Members of the Kindred, carrying lanterns, led Mulder, Scully, and I into the woods before Wilton spoke, "It's a mile to your car. Stay in the path."  
"Thanks for your cooperation." Mulder said before all of us left the group, Scully and Mulder each carrying a walked toward the car, now out of sight of the group. "The Addams family finds religion."  
"Take me back to the 20th century." Scully joked with him.  
"You believe all that back there, Scully?" Mulder inquired.  
"Believe all what?"  
"All that "we take care of our own" business?" Mulder clarified.  
"Well, they better take care of their own or that man at the dinner table is a dead man." I chimed in.  
"I think it was all an elaborate act." Mulder commented. That kinda made sense, I thought.  
"What? The choking?" Scully asked, completely off track. Though I couldn't blame her this time.  
"No, all this simple life, living from abundance crap. These people know something, Scully. You can see it in their eyes - the way they look at one another." Mulder explained.  
"Do you think they know who the murderer is?" Scully questioned.  
"Did you notice how they managed not to answer a single question of ours? And that outburst at the table was right on cue. Somehow, they got us to answer their questions. Did you ask yourself why there weren't any children around?" Mulder pointed out.  
"I know, that was odd."  
We had now stopped along the path.  
"You want to know what was really odd? You know those pictures we saw down in the store in Steveston today, the ones from the thirties? I swear I saw some of those same faces at the dinner table tonight." Mulder continued.  
"So did I." I agreed.  
"These people have probably been intermarrying for years." Scully rationalized.  
"Maybe. Maybe not everything is as black and white as it appears to be." Mulder turned off his lantern.  
"What are you doing?" Scully demanded.  
"I'm going to go back for a little look-see." Mulder said. "You coming River?"  
"Of course." I responded. Scully turned off her lantern and followed us.  
As we got back to the property, I saw that the main house was dark. I could also hear a distant chanting noise.  
"Maybe they went to the movies. Do you hear that?" Mulder requested.  
"Uh-huh." We followed the noise and saw a group of people carrying lanterns and chanting. We quietly approached as the group went into a barn and closed the door behind them. Mulder, Scully, and I creeped to the barn and peered through spaces in the barn wall. I saw a solemn procession, with members carrying the motionless body of Brother Aaron, the one who was choking earlier. A horse near the barn wall became agitated, and several members looked around warily as part of the group went through a cellar door in the barn. The rest went back out of the barn.  
"What do you think?" Scully inquired.  
"I think I want to see what's in that cellar." Mulder replied.  
Mulder and Scully went around to the door while I stayed. Through the wall, I saw Mulder and Scully enter, walk to the cellar door and enter. Just then, Brother Andrew startled me, placing his hand on my shoulder from behind.  
"Come with me. I can give you information." Andrew told me. I hesitated before rising and following him. Brother Andrew and I entered a room in the house. "I know who did it."  
"The murders?" I checked.  
"You've heard our prayers. You've seen how we live our beliefs. I want you to find this killer. I want you to find him for me. He was my best friend."  
"What's his name?" I asked as a familiar sharp pain hit my stomach. Why was this happening now?  
"Brother Martin. I called him Marty." Andrew said. That was when I noticed we were in a darkened room, illuminated by a single lantern. "Marty was different."  
"Different?" I asked.  
"How does he kill?" Andrew asked.  
"We're not sure. All of the victims died of cardiac arrest." I slowly told him.  
"He poisons them, doesn't he?"  
"How do you know that?" I demanded.  
Andrew wedged a chair under the door to block it and I warily watched him. "I need to show you something ... something about Marty." Andrew brought out a stack of magazines covered in a black cloth. He showed them to me. "We found them out on route 44. We were wandering. Marty and I used to do that - explore the edges of our world. Someone must have left them for garbage. They are garbage."  
"Why did you keep them?" I questioned.  
"It was Martin who kept them. Some of what I saw in the magazines ... some of it was beautiful, but most of it I didn't like. It was garish. But Martin - Marty - he couldn't get enough. He liked even the paper it was printed on - slick. Marty was captured by your world. He left us to become one of you."  
"You said Marty was different." I reminded him.  
"Yes."  
"How? How did he kill his victims?" I demanded, stepping closer.  
"I could be banished."  
"Does it have something to do with the ceremony in the barn tonight?" I persisted. Andrew walked closer to me and took my hand, rubbing it with his thumb. "What are you doing?"  
Andrew continued stroking my hand and reached to touch my face. I flinced as my hand began to burn. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't as Andrew spoke, "Marty is different. We're all different." He moved closer and nuzzled my neck causing stabs of pain to shoot through my body.  
"No, stop." I managed to whisper through the pain as my body went limp. Andrew had no difficulty pushing me down on the bed and laying on top of me. The doorknob started rattling and my eyes slid closed.  
"River?" I heard Mulder say through the door and I managed to force my eyes open. I started pushing against Andrew's chest as Mulder broke through the door and saw us on the bed. "Get off of her!" He grabbed Andrew and shoved him aside, then lifted me off the bed and helped me out of the room. Moments later, we exited the house and met up with Scully. We encountered a group of the Kindred as we came out the door.  
"I asked you not to interfere." Abigail stated. We all stared at each other for several seconds before Sister Abigail stood aside, clearing a path for us to leave. Mulder nodded and lead me away, still mostly holding me up. Scully followed.  
Mulder had his arm around me as we walked. "What the hell were you doing back there?"  
"I don't know." I whispered.  
"You don't know?" Mulder demanded. I shook my head as I stumbled. "You all right?" I groaned as my knees buckled as I felt another wave of pain. Mulder caught me and led me to the ground. "Scully what's wrong with her?"  
Scully looked me over. "I don't know. Nothing seems to be wrong." At this point tears were silently rolling down my cheeks. "River how do you feel?"  
"It hurts." I managed to get out.  
"What does?"  
I motioned to my whole body before trying to get up and failing. "Let's just go."  
Mulder slowly helped me up and I managed to walk for a little longer before Mulder just lifted me into his arms and I quickly fell asleep.

When I woke up I was in the passenger seat and we were stopped at a diner. Mulder brought two cups of coffee back to the car along with a soda. He gave a coffee to Scully and the soda to me when he saw I was awake.  
"Thanks." I whispered.  
"How you feeling?" Mulder asked.  
"Better, but I still hurt ... a little embarrassed." I answered.  
"Why? You don't remember any of it." Mulder reminded me.  
"It's like I don't remember ...but I do at the same time."  
"Why didn't you get out of there before he ..." Mulder trailed off.  
"Because he told me he knew who the killer was." I answered, taking a sip of the soda before taking a longer drink upon finding that it helped clear my head.  
"How did you know he wasn't the killer?" Mulder inquired after I looked at him again.  
"I believed him. It was stupid." I responded. Mulder sighed as he drank his coffee. "So what did you see down in the cellar?"  
"Just Brother what's-his-name buried in some gopher hole in the wall. Buried alive." Mulder answered.  
"How do you know he was alive?" I questioned.  
"Because I was in there with him. And his face was ... was different. Even his hair, it was almost feminine. It was like he was going through some kind of a transformation." Mulder explained.  
"Changing sexes?" I asked, to be sure I had heard correctly.  
"That would explain the hotel security video." Mulder concluded.  
"So you're saying these people ..." I trailed off.  
"I know what I saw, River. And I saw you about to do the wild thing with some stranger." Mulder told me.  
I stared at him for a few moments. "Do you think he was trying to kill me?"  
"Maybe it's the sex that kills." Mulder confirmed.  
"Well, if he was trying to kill me, why did they let us go?" I wondered.  
"I don't know." Mulder said as he started the car.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, she was a kind 3. But there was something about her." Michael told us.  
"Did she touch you or make physical contact in any other manner?" Scully requested, looking at me.  
"Her touch was ... electric. But after that, I remember only vaguely."  
"What do you remember?" Mulder asked.  
"Nothing, actually."  
"Try to remember, Michael. The policeman at the scene supports what you said, but maybe there was something ... unusual about this woman. Something you wouldn't feel comfortable telling the police on the record." Mulder probed.  
"But this is off the record?"  
"Absolutely." Mulder reassured him.  
"What did you see, Michael?" Scully inquired.  
"After she left the car and she was fighting with the cop, I saw her in her clothes and she looked like ..." He gave a nervous laugh. "... she looked like a man."  
Mulder and Scully exchanged glances.  
"She was a man." Scully told him.  
"Hustling in the club scene used to be so simple. That's off the record.  
"Scout's honor." Mulder told him before we left the room.  
"Well, I can't rule out the possiblity that who we're looking for is a transvestite." Scully said.  
"I think Don Juan in there knows the difference between the male and the female of the species." Mulder told her.  
"I just don't want us to ignore the obvious. I mean, how else could you explain a woman overpowering a 200-pound cop? She was a he." Scully concluded.  
"Agent Mulder? Agent Scully? The credit card that was stolen from the last victim in DC was just used to order takeout in a hotel downtown, about 8 blocks from here." An agent informed us.

Mulder, Scully, and I entered the hotel.  
"This is Agent Scully requesting police backup and additional agents at 771 Catherine Street. It's the Hotel Catherine." Scully said into the comm.  
Mulder, Scully, and I arrived on the floor and ran down the hallway. I found the room first. "Dad!"  
Mulder ran to the door and Scully and him drew their weapons and took positions. Mulder knocked on the door. "Delivery!"  
There was no answer. Mulder signaled that he was going to break in and Scully stepped in front of the door as I drew my daggers.  
"FBI! FBI! Clear! Stay down!" Mulder said as he broke down the door.  
I didn't see anyone inside. Scully went into the adjoining room. "Dead body!"  
"Scully?" Mulder questioned as we came into the room she was in.  
"I'm OK." She said from the ran out into the hall. After knowing Scully was fine I ran after Mulder only to find him lying there, dazed.  
"River. Down the stairs ..." He groggily told me.  
I jumped over him and down the stairs at the end of the hall putting my daggers away as I ran and pulling a gun from the back of my jeans. I burst out into the alley below but didn't see anyone. As I moved through the alley, I heard a noise and saw shadows appear on the side of one of the buildings. Suddenly, the male Marty ran toward me. "Federal agent, I'm armed!" I yelled. Marty stopped. "Back away!" Suddenly, Marty was tackled by a figure dressed in black. He was surrounded by the Kindred, including Brother Andrew. They got him to his feet. "Step away! Step away!"  
Andrew turned to me and walked towards me, while the others held Marty behind him. "Please. Don't hurt him."  
"No. Stay away from me." I told him. Andrew continued to approach me. "I will hurt you." Andrew continued to block the others from my line of fire. As he got close, I started to lower my gun.  
"River!" Mulder yelled.  
I turned to him, and Andrew knocked my gun out of my hand, then striked me in the face. I fell. As Mulder ran to my aid, shadows on the building wall moved away and the Kindred disappeared as mysteriously as they appeared.

The next morning, several 4-wheel drive police vehicles approached. Mulder, Scully, the agent, others, and I emerged and started to search the area. Scully headed to the house and found no one in the dining area.  
Mulder ran to the barn and opened the door to the cellar. We found a solid clay wall behind it. The agent approached from behind. "We found something in the hayfield."  
Mulder, Scully, and I went to the hayfield.  
"I don't understand. How can they just disappear? They have no means of transportation." Scully said.  
"No earthly means of transportation." Mulder said as we came to a large crop circle.


	15. Young at Heart

Mulder and Scully got out of our car and started into the jewelry store. I followed quickly.  
"I still don't get it. What does this have to do with us?" Scully asked.  
"Robbing a jewelry store is a federal crime." Mulder said.  
"Thank you."  
"I don't know. I got a call from some guy I used to work with over at the violent crimes section, said it was important." Mulder explained.  
The coroner wheeled away a victim as Mulder, Scully, and I walked over to a man I knew to be Agent Reggie Purdue.  
Mulder started chanting. "Reggie! Reggie!"  
They shook hands. "Mulder, God, I hate it when you do that."  
"This is Special Agent Scully and my daughter, River. Reggie Purdue." Mulder introduced.  
Scully and Purdue shook hands.  
"I've heard so much about you. It's a surprise to finally meet you." Reggie told me.  
"What happened here?" I asked, cutting straight to the chase.  
"Lone gunman took out a salesgirl after she filled up a bag for him." Reggie said after a nod from Mulder.  
"You guys turn up anything?" Mulder questioned.  
"Not much... except... this. It's going to blow your mind."  
"Why?" Mulder queried.  
"I'm telling you, Mulder, this is going to blow... your... mind." He handed Mulder an evidence bag with a piece of paper in it. I watched as Mulder read the paper.  
"What is it?" Scully asked.  
"Wait, wait a second..." Mulder trailed off.  
"You see why I called you?" Reggie asked.  
"What about witness descriptions?" Mulder inquired.  
"White male, five-eleven to six feet, ski mask."  
Mulder stared at him. "Damn it, Reggie, that's Barnett."  
"Yeah, but it can't be."  
"Who's Barnett?" Scully asked the question I was going to.  
They stared at her.

Mulder, Scully, and I walked out.  
"It was my first case at the bureau. Barnett was doing armed jobs all over D.C. and getting away with it, very trigger-happy. Killed seven people. There was this big task force, Reggie was my ASAC. I was twenty-eight years old, right out of the academy. I had this theory on the case. Reggie thought I was full of it. I was full of it." Mulder informed us.  
"What was the theory?" I asked.  
"That Barnett had an inside connection. An employee at the armored car company was tipping him off about large shipments of cash. Turns out I was sort of right." Mulder answered.  
"Sort of?" Scully asked.  
"Yeah, we planted bogus waybills, manifests with the armored car company to try to set a trap but Barnett was way ahead of us. That's... when the notes started." Mulder explained.  
We stopped walking and Mulder handed Scully the bag with the note in it.  
""Fox can't guard the chicken coop."" Scully read aloud.  
"Clever, huh?" Mulder said bitterly.  
"So you never caught him?" Scully assumed.  
"No, we did. We did, but not, uh, not clean. An agent died because I screwed up." Mulder confessed.  
Scully stared at him for a second. "And what happened to Barnett?"  
"He avoided the death penalty on a technicality. But he went down for every job he did. Consecutive terms, three-hundred-and-forty years. The judge promised me he would die in prison." Mulder replied.  
"So you think he escaped?" I asked.  
"No, that's just it. He did die in prison, four years ago." Mulder told me. This was slightly exciting.  
"You're sure?" Scully asked, always the skeptic.  
"I was paying attention." Mulder said before he walked away.

Agent Henderson was looking at the note under an electron-emission note and Mulder was looking as well through a second pair of lenses on the same machine while I leaned against the table waiting for the verdict.  
"This guy a friend of yours?" Henderson inquired. I rolled my eyes at the suggestion. More like fiend.  
"Yeah, I play golf with him every Sunday. What do you think?" Mulder said sarcastically.  
"You just brought this in ten minutes ago."  
"You're slipping, Henderson." Mulder teased.  
"Ten minutes may be enough time for you, Mulder. Of course, I wouldn't know that from personal experience."  
Mulder looked at her, sitting down. "Yeah... seriously, what do you think?"  
"Okay, first impressions... the ink is fresh, the note was written in the last forty-eight hours. Ballpoint, but you knew that. A right-hander. Let's see... written by someone sitting down, but now I'm just showing off."  
"Yeah, does it match Barnett?" Mulder questioned.  
"I'd say it's him."  
"But you're not sure?" Mulder queried.  
Henderson looked at him. "Ninety-five percent. The writing's sloppy. Some of the ascenders and descenders are heavier."  
"Could it have been traced over an old note of Barnett's?" Mulder suggested. Didn't think of that. That thought is suddenly pushed from my mind as I somehow know that it is Barnett.  
"Could be, but it's a damn good job if it is."  
"Thanks, Henderson, I owe you one." Mulder said, standing up and motioning for me to follow.  
"Promises, promises."  
Mulder and I left.

Mulder took a print-out out of the printer as Scully walked over to us.  
"What did Henderson come up with?" Scully asked.  
"Ninety-five percent sure it's Barnett's handwriting." Mulder answered.  
Scully looked at the paper. "What's that?"  
"Federal Bureau of Prisons sent me a copy of his death certificate. "Name of deceased, Barnett, John Irvin. Cause of death, cardiac arrest. Date, September sixteenth, 1989."" Mulder replied.  
We started off.  
"Then it must be a very clever copycat."  
"The note was written in the last forty-eight hours." Mulder countered.  
"Pull any prints?"  
"No prints." Mulder said.  
"Barnett had a lot of time on his hands while he was in prison, maybe he planned it with someone on the outside."  
Mulder opened the door to an office. "Revenge from the grave? That'd be a neat trick."  
"He planned to get you, didn't he?" Scully pointed out. Mulder stared at her. "I was just down talking to Agent Purdue."  
"And he showed you the videotape?" Mulder asked.  
She nodded. "You did the right thing, Mulder."  
"Did I? Steve Wallenberg had a wife and two kids. One of his boys is an all-star on his football team now. If I had pulled the trigger two seconds earlier and Wallenberg would be here to see his kid play. Instead, I got some dead man robbing jewelry stores and sending me haikus." With that said Mulder walked into the office.

Purdue, sitting at his desk, looked through the various pictures that were in the envelope Mulder had brought in. "Agent Mulder, and I think that somebody is messing with your head."  
"Barnett said he'd get me, you were there." Mulder said desperately.  
"I don't care what Barnett said, he's dead, Mulder."  
"Apparently not." Mulder protested.  
"Aw, come on. Let me tell you something, there are a lot of guys who know that Barnett made the threat."  
"It's Barnett, Reggie." Mulder insisted.  
"How could you say that?"  
"I don't know, I just feel it." Mulder told him. Probably not the same way I can.  
Purdue stood and signaled to a man, who walked out. Purdue closed the door. "You know, all this talk about you, about "Spooky" Mulder, I never used to pay it much mind. I figured it was just talk about how paranoid you were and all."  
"And now?" Mulder demanded.  
"Remember the day you walked into my office wet from Quantico? You pissed me off just looking at you but then I saw how your mind worked. How you were always three jumps ahead. It was scary, Mulder. Everybody said so."  
"I've heard this story." Mulder told him.  
Mulder turned, but Reggie grabbed his arm and turned him back around. "Yeah, well, maybe you ought to hear it again. You let a lot of people down here in the bureau. They had big plans for you. A lot of people are saying that "Spooky" Mulder has become an embarrassment, a liability."  
"What? Are you saying that somebody from the bureau's behind this?" Mulder demanded.  
"Maybe, maybe not. It's always best to cover your ass in any event."  
Scully walked in just then. "Sorry. This was just faxed." She handed Purdue a paper and went to say something, but I got there first.  
"That is a copy of John Barnett's last will and testament. No surviving relatives, left what little he had to another prisoner... Joe Crandall... and instructions for his body to be cremated. His will was executed six months after his death and this document states that his ashes were spread along the bank of the Delaware River by an employee of the crematory used by the prison." I said, calmly without even glancing at the paper.  
"How did you know that?" Scully asked. Mulder and Purdue were staring at me.  
"I...just did." I said softly.  
"It's like I said, I think somebody's messing with your head." Purdue said, giving me an odd look.  
"Killing a sales clerk just to leave me a note? I'd say that's going a little out of your way." Mulder said as he picked up the pictures and left with me behind him.

Mulder was sitting next to the computer technician. On the screen was a picture of Barnett with the words "Subject: Barnett, John."  
"He's older now, he may have put on some weight." Mulder directed.  
"How much older?"  
"Five years." Mulder said. She pressed some keys and on the screen, Barnett's face grew older and thinner. "He could be wearing any kind of disguise."  
She pressed some more keys and Barnett grew a beard. Mulder stood and thought for a moment. A moment later Mulder leaned over to the computer specialist. "I'll need printouts of every variation."  
"Right."  
Scully walked in a moment later. "I just got off the phone with the prison."  
"What did they come up with?" Mulder asked.  
"No, I called them on a hunch. John Barnett died of a heart attack, right? At least that's what it says on his death certificate. Well, I had them fax me all of his medical records. Barnett was admitted to the prison infirmary for an infection in his right hand. There isn't any indication or diagnosis of coronary complications. In fact, on his physical six months earlier, he was given a clean bill of health."

An inmate at Tashmoo Federal Correctional Facility standing next to Crandall pointed at Mulder, Scully, and I in the doorway. "Crandall. Someone to see you."  
Mulder, Scully, and I walked on either side of Crandall, still in his wheelchair.  
"I don't get many visitors." Crandell told us.  
"You knew John Barnett?" Mulder inquired.  
"Yes, sir."  
"How well did you know him?" Mulder questioned.  
"Pretty well."  
"He left you everything he had in his will. You must've known him better than pretty well." Scully cut in.  
"Used to change his bandages, and we just got to... know each other." Crandell defended.  
"Are you aware that Barnett died of cardiac arrest in this facility in 1989?" Mulder queried.  
"Cardiac arrest? Where does it say that?"  
"On his death certificate." Scully said.  
We stopped.  
"He ain't dead, is he?" Crandell asked, incredulous.  
"Why do you say that?" Mulder questioned.  
"Last time I saw John Barnett, it was right in that room over there." Crandell nodded towards a door. "Doctor working on him with a knife took his bad hand clean off."  
"What doctor?" Scully asked.  
"Was it Doctor Ridley?" Mulder inquired.  
"Yeah, yeah, it was Doctor Ridley, that's the one. He told me Johnny was dead but, uh, I knew it was a lie. Put a knife right up under my chin just for asking." Crandell answered. Strange.  
"How could you tell Barnett wasn't dead?" Scully demanded.  
Crandall took a deep breath. "I saw him looking at me. I saw him blink. Man, I'll never forget those eyes."

Jail photos were posted on the light screen as Mulder fed the clip into his gun.  
"What are you going to do?" Scully asked. At least she didn't say 'Waht are you doing'.  
"I know what I'm not going to do. I'm not going to hang around and wait for Barnett to send me another valentine." Mulder told her.  
"You mean the ghost of John Barnett." Scully corrected and I rolled my eyes at her usual skepticism.  
"I didn't know you believe in ghosts, Scully." Mulder teased.  
The phone rang and Scully walked over and picked it up.  
"Hello? Yeah, just a minute." She looked back at Mulder. "It's for you."  
He walked over and took the phone. "Mulder." My stomach crawled as soon as Mulder took the phone. After a moment he spoke again. "Barnett?"  
I walked over to him as he signalled to Scully. She ran off to trace the call.  
I could just barely make out Barnett's words. "You sound surprised."  
Mulder went over to his tape recorder and pressed record. "Well, you know, shouldn't I be?"  
"You know, it's illegal to tape another's phone call...without their express permission. Isn't that what they call it?"  
"In some states. What makes you think I'm taping you?" Mulder asked.  
"Same thing makes me think you're putting a trace on this call."  
"What state are you in?" Mulder inquired.  
"The same state you and your daughter are. I stood next to you in line for coffee this morning."  
"I don't think so." Mulder said.  
"Man, I'm everywhere you are. Everywhere. I own you."  
"How do I know it's really you, Barnett?" Mulder queried.  
"What did I say to you in the courtroom? Did you ever... doubt me?"  
"I don't know, what did you tell me in the courtroom?" Mulder requested.  
"Huh... if you think you're going to keep me on this phone with this clumsy act..."  
"Listen, by all accounts, John Barnett is a dead man." Mulder said.  
"Oh, you're the dead man... Mulder."  
Mulder tensed up a little. "Fine. I just need confirmation that you are who you say you are."  
"You want confirmation? You got it." A moment later Barnette hung up.  
"Barnett? You there?" Mulder asked before slamming the phone down.  
Scully walked in. "You lost him."  
"Yeah, he was hip to the trace." Mulder said.  
"Was it Barnett?"  
"John Barnett was from New Hampshire. He had a slight accent. Listen to this." Mulder stopped the recorder and rewound it, then pressed stop and play.  
"I just need confirmation that you are who you say you are."  
"You want confirmation? You got it."  
Mulder stopped the recording and snapped his fingers.  
"What did he mean by that?" Scully asked.  
"I don't know, but that is... John Barnett. I'm sure of it." Mulder confirmed.  
Mulder called Reggie later that night. I could hear their conversation for some reason. "Reggie, it's Mulder."  
"Mulder, what do you want? It's the middle of the night."  
Mulder looked at his watch and smiled. "It's only 10:45, old man.  
"Yeah, well... I was sleeping."  
"Listen, Reggie, it doesn't look like Barnett's dead after all." Mulder said.  
"Now what?"  
"I got an inmate at the prison who swears he saw Barnett alive the night they say he died." Mulder informed.  
"Mulder, go home. Get some rest.  
"No, listen, Reggie, there's just one thing that doesn't make sense to me." Mulder insisted.  
"Yeah, what's that?"  
"That Agent Henderson said that that note that was left at the jewelry store was written by a right-hander." Mulder replied.  
"Yeah, so?"  
"Well, this inmate at the prison swears he saw Barnett's right hand amputated." Mulder explained. "Reggie, you there? Hey, Reggie! Reggie! Reggie, what's going on? Are you there? What the hell is going on, Reggie? Reggie! What happened? Hey, Reggie! What's going on? Are you there? What the hell's going on, Reggie?" Mulder continued frantically. I thought I knew what had happened.

Later, Scully walked into to a melee of policemen, agents and crime photographers. "I hope you guys brought your fine-toothed comb. I want every piece of lint collected and analyzed. If nothing turns up, run it through it again." She walked over to Mulder, who was staring at the desk. "Mulder..."  
"His wife died of cancer six years ago. Never liked to talk about it." Mulder said as he walked around her. I watched him silently from my position against the wall. "As long as I knew him, he was working on a mystery novel. He promised to show it to me once, but he never did. I think he was afraid I wouldn't like it. I'm probably the only guy on the bureau he trusted enough to even ask."  
"I'm sorry."  
"I'm just thinking how different things would've been if I would've taken that shot at Barnett when I had it." Mulder informed.  
"Mulder... we're still not a hundred percent sure that this is him." Scully insisted.  
A siren was heard outside. Mulder pointed to a note on the desk wrapped in an evidence bag. She picked it up and read it.  
The note reads:

"Funerals for Fox's friends, daughter  
- then for Fox"

She looked back at Mulder. He seemed stoic.

Henderson was looking at the new note under the electron-emission microscope. "Fresh ink, slightly smeared... I hate to tell you, and I'm not known to be wrong about these things, but this note was most certainly written by a right-handed person." She pulled away from the microscope and Mulder looked through. "You see the pressure points inside the pen grooves? It's a dead giveaway."  
"Would you be able to tell if this note was written by somebody using a prosthetic hand?" Mulder questioned.  
She looked back through. "Well, this fellow... and I'm assuming from the cursive figures here that it is a male suspect... he has a fairly nice, fluid style. Judging from the pressure variations in the connectors, this person would need good finger dexterity. You're not going to get that with a prosthesis."  
"So you think it's the same person that wrote the first note." Mulder stated rather than questioned.  
"Uh-huh." Mulder took the note as Henderson continued. "This the guy you think killed Agent Purdue?"  
"Yeah." Mulder said as he walked around her.  
"You know what occured to me? You never got any prints off those notes." Henderson said. Mulder reached behind her and took the other note. "If this guy was wearing a glove on his pen hand, the note wouldn't be smeared like it is. For what it's worth."  
Yes, it occured to me as well, I thought.

Scully was on the phone when Mulder and I walked in. The phone was still ringing on the other end, though. She hung up. "I was just trying to find you. Listen to this. According to the A.M.A., Doctor Ridley, who signed Barnett's death certificate, hasn't officially been a doctor since 1979."  
"What do you mean?" Mulder asked.  
"His membership expired and wasn't renowed after the state of Maryland revoked his medical license for flagrant research malpractice and misuse of a government grant." I said, the words spilling out before I could stop them. Scully had also said them, I realized.  
Scully looked at me as Mulder reached for the papers she was holding.  
"Where does it say that?" Mulder asked.  
"Right here. In the federal journal for the National Institute of Health." Scully handed him the papers as we started towards the door.  
"What kind of research?" Mulder asked.  
"He was conducting experiments on young children afflicted with a disease called progeria." She said as we walked out. "You know, River, you seem to know a lot about this. Care to explain?"  
"Are you accusing me of something?" I asked completely calm. "Because if you are, it will most likely be proven false."  
"No." She said, though she still sounded suspicious.  
"I'm not sure how I know what I said, but as soon as I figure it out. I'll inform you." I said, falling in step with Mulder.

On the viewscreen was a movie of a young girl who looked very decrepit and old walking around. "The patient you see is an eight-year-old girl suffering from the advanced stages of progeria."  
"She looks about ninety." Mulder said.  
"Only about a hundred cases have ever been reported so the disease is rare." Nih said.  
"But fatal." Scully said.  
"What's the cause of death?" Mulder asked.  
"Clinically, it's cardiac or cerebral vascular disease but actually, these poor kids die of old age." Nih said.  
The movie flipped to that of Doctor Ridley with the young girl.  
"Is that Doctor Ridley?" Mulder asked.  
"Yes, in 1974. Joe Ridley thought that he could take their accelerated aging and slow it down. Initially, some of his lab work was promising but then... things got out of control. He wanted to begin human trials."  
"Why wasn't he allowed to?" Mulder queried.  
"Because he hadn't met the criteria. It was all too hypothetical, too... dangerous. I mean... I knew Joe Ridley. He didn't care about those kids. He talked about them as if they were laboratory animals. This terrible disease, progeria... he saw it as "a wonderful opportunity." He used those exact words with me once. An opportunity to "unlock all the secrets." When they refused to allow the human trials, he became enraged. Do you know what they called Joe Ridley behind his back?"  
"What?" Mulder inquired.  
"Doktor Mengele."  
"So, how did Doctor Ridley eventually lose his medical license?" Scully cut in.  
"He went ahead with the human trials secretly on an out-patient basis." Mulder walked over to the viewscreen as Nih spoke. "When we learned about it, of course, we terminated his grant and filed charges with the state medical boards."  
"I'm afraid your colleague, Doctor Ridley, has dropped off the face of the earth." Scully said.  
"Yeah. Although, it's rumored he went to South America to continue his work."

Mulder, Scully, and I left and started down the hallway.  
"You just don't reverse aging." Scully said.  
"Ridley's found a way." Mulder insisted. I agreed.  
"Listen to what you're saying."  
"He wanted human research subjects, right? Prisoners. Prisoners like John Barnett." Mulder said.  
"Mulder, it's science fiction."  
"Well, what would you have said twenty years ago about gene splicing, DNA fingerprinting, cloning, artificial intelligence?" Mulder pushed the down button for the elevator. "Maybe we're not looking for a man in his late forty's after all. Maybe John Barnett has found the perfect disguise... youth."  
The elevator door opened and we went inside. Scully pushed a button and the elevator door closed.

On the computer screen was the original picture of John Barnett. The writing in the upper left hand said "Subject: Barnett, John."  
"I want to age him backwards now. Let's start with ten years." Mulder instructed. The technician typed in some keys and the face became healthier, the hair thicker. "Now, five years more." More keys were pressed and the face became even younger. "And add twenty pounds. A healthy twenty pounds."  
Mulder looked at the final result.

Mulder, Scully, Ridley, and I were all sitting down in different chairs. Scully was taking notes. Ridley's eyes had a dead glaze over them.  
"If you're really Doctor Joseph Ridley, where've you been for the past five years?" Mulder demanded.  
"I originally continued my research in Mexico but for the last three years, I spent my time in Central America. In Belize, to be exact." Ridley answered.  
"What about Barnett?" Mulder queried.  
"John Barnett is the only patient left. The only one who survived the experiments."  
"What about you?" Mulder inquired.  
"My appearance is decieving. I have no more than a month to live as I am dying from a rare cerebral vascular disease."  
"The same disease that kills the kids suffering from progeria?" Scully asked.  
"That's right." He laughs a little bit. "An unfortunate side effect of the treatment. By using the genetic components of progeria, I was able to reverse the aging process in much the same way the disease expedited it. At the same time, I and my patients became genetically susceptible to the same ailments a child six or eight would if he had the disease."  
"And what about Barnett?" Mulder epeated.  
"John Barnett. If I didn't so personally detest the man, I might call him my one triumph."  
"Barnett's not dying." Mulder stated.  
"Only his eyes, which for some reason do not respond to the gene therapy. Otherwise, John Barnett appears to be thriving."  
"But how?" I asked, slightly distracted at the dark feeling I had just sitting in Scully's living room.  
"I varied Barnett's treatment. Once I isolated the progeria receptors, I stumbled onto something quite unexpected... these same genes related to the production of myelin."  
"The material that insulates neurons in the body." Scully said.  
"Yes. You see, myelin is not present in the very young and by reversing the effects of aging, I found, with Barnett, I was able to regulate the production of myelin. Myelin being the material that prohibits you or I from, say, regenerating a new hand if we were to have ours cut off."  
" You were able to grow John Barnett a new hand?" Mulder asked.  
"Not exactly. Not a human hand, anyway. I could never get the cells to divide or behave properly."  
"I, I'm afraid to ask. What kind of hand did you grow?" Scully asked anyways.  
"There had been some successful work done in London. By taking samples of what we call cell morphegins from an amputated salamander arm and applying them to the back of the creature, they were able to grow a new limb on a completely different part of the body. But only on salamanders."  
"Until John Barnett." Mulder stated.  
"Yeah."  
"Unbelievable." Scully said. For her yes.  
"My work has cost me dearly. I'm an outcast in the medical community. I was called Doctor Mengele, Doctor Frankenstein but I didn't care."  
"Because you knew that if your theories panned out..."  
"The man who owns the fountain of youth controls the world. When the A.M.A. censured me, certain sponsors came out of the woodwork. One of them is the U.S. government."  
"They financed your research?" Mulder inquired, incredulous.  
"You might be more surprised to learn just how high up the ladder this dirty little secret goes."

Mulder was looking at an artist's rendition of the younger Barnett. Scully put her answering machine down on the desk.  
"What's that?" Mulder asked.  
"It's my private answering machine. Or at least it used to be." Scully said.  
He put down the paper as she sat on the desk. "What do you mean?"  
"When I ran from the shower this morning, I heard someone dialing in my private code and replaying my messages. Last night, before Doctor Ridley, I could have sworn that someone was in my apartment. But when Ridley knocked, I thought I'd mistaken the noise for him."  
"Scully..." Mulder started.  
She held up the answering machine. "This morning, I took this down to prints before I came here. John Barnett's left index oblique is on the underside of this unit."  
The phone rang and Scully put the machine down as Mulder picked up. "Mulder." Mulder stood suddenly. "Barnett?"  
"Your new friend, Ridley?" Barnett spoke. "Don't grow to fond of him... huh? He's going to die soon like the rest of your friends."  
"The rest of my friends?" Mulder inquired.  
"One by one."  
"You're not that smart." Mulder said.  
"Tell me, you're not going to make me prove it to you again, are you? Oh, well, no matter. It'll be your turn soon enough."  
"Well, you won't get that chance." Mulder said.  
"Oh, no?" Barnett laughed. "Who's going to stop me, huh? Man, this is... this is the land of the free! Well, I'm just checking in. Bye. For now."  
Mulder hung up after Barnett did so. "What does Barnett know about your phone messages?"  
"Uh, that my mother called for no reason and I'm meeting a friend before her cello recital." Scully said.  
"Where's that?" Mulder demanded.

Mulder was briefing his fellow agents while Scully handed out various pictures of the artist's renditions of Barnett. "Before the performance and during, we're working at a disadvantage because we don't know exactly what Barnett looks like. Study each of these faces. Know them, particularly the eyes."  
"I'm including a diagram of the theater. You have six front entrances and four more backstage." Scully finished handing out fliers and stood next to Mulder and I. I had changed into black skinny jeans, white sneakers, black T-shirt, and a leather jacket.  
"We know that if he shows, he'll be keying on Scully. So wherever she is, she should not leave your sight. We've got two hours before the performance. Know this place inside and out. We don't want any shots fired if we can help it. We want to take Barnett alive, okay?" Mulder said. The men walked off and Mulder, Scully, and I started off as well. "How are you feeling?"  
"It's the first time I've ever played the target." Scully said.  
"Let's make sure it's not the last time." Mulder suggested.  
Mulder walked into the main room, which was loud with people talking. We made our way through the crowd and looked around at the incoming people.  
Scully looked at Mulder. Barnett, wearing gloves, takes his revolver out of a case and stuffs it under his blue sweater in his pants. He walks offstage and down the aisleway calmly as the cello plays behind him. Walking into the main room, he makes his way through the crowd, looking around. He sees Scully and shoves through two people, whipping out his revolver.)  
"Gun!" Scully yelled. She pushed a man out of the way and was winged. The next shot was dead on in the chest and Scully fell like a ragdoll.  
Mulder ran over, gun drawn. He pushed a man out of the way. "Down!"  
Barnett sneered, lowering his gun as people screamed. He ran into the main room as Mulder and I ran over to Scully, looking down at her.  
"Check her out!" Mulder told another agent. A man checked on Scully. Barnett ran down the aisle and on stage, grabbing Kathy by the neck and standing behind her, holding the gun to her head.  
Mulder and I ran in followed by two other agents.  
She struggled against his grip. "Stay back, Mulder!" She moaned and gasped loudly at Barnett's words. "Shut up..."  
Mulder turned back to the other agents. "Back off, back off..." Mulder aimed his gun.  
"I'll kill her! Don't even think about it!"  
"Just let her go." Mulder said, calmly as I casually placed my hand at my belt where my pocket knife was, luckily, not in sight.  
"Go ahead and shoot. Go ahead, man. Shoot, Mulder! What are you afraid of, huh? What, it's against regulations... huh? No, man. You need me alive, don't you? Because I'm the only one who knows where the research is! Huh? So I could shoot her! And you just to live with it, don't you, huh?" Barnett taunted.  
"Shut up!" Mulder snapped.  
"Please, no. Please, please, please..." Kathy whimpered and Mulder lowered his gun.  
"How about it, Mulder?" Barnett continued.  
Mulder raised his gun back up with steel resolve.  
"Please, please, please, please, please..." Kathy whimpered again.  
"Just like old times, huh? Huh?"  
Mulder pulled the trigger and Barnett's eyes glazed over differently as his whole body tensed up. Kathy gasped as he slowly fell. She screamed and started crying.  
Mulder stared at the stage for a second, then looked back at the other two agents. "Call an ambulance!"  
"Okay... it's okay, Scully, an ambulance is on the way." An agent was saying. Scully's eyes burst open. She moved slowly, her eyes focusing. "You all right? Don't try to move..."  
She moaned and looked down at her chest, pulling open the shirt to reveal damaged kevlar. She let her head fall back and sighed in relief. Sirens pulled into earshot.

Mulder looked in through the window as doctors and nurses worked on Barnett. A man-in-black was interrogating Barnett as well. "Where are they? Can you hear me?"  
"One, two, three..."  
"Where'd you hide them?"  
He wasn't going to get answers that way, I thought as I sighed from my spot beside Mulder.  
Mulder looked over at Scully, who approached us and I let the noise in the operating room become a low din.  
"How you feeling?" Mulder asked.  
"Like somebody kicked me in the ribs." Scully answered. I didn't turn away from the scene I was observing as I listened.  
"That bullet went through eight layers of kevlar, you're lucky to be alive." Mulder told her.  
"What about him?" Scully said, presumably talking about Barnett.  
"Well, they flew in three specialists to try to save his life. That guy in the ugly suit there is probably C.I.A. Been trying to talk to him." Mulder answered.  
"Is Barnett conscious?"  
"Yeah, but he's not talking." Mulder said.  
They stared at the melee in the emergency room.  
"Mulder, I know what you did wasn't by the book." Scully started and I inclined my head more towards them as I listened, no longer looking into the emergency room.  
"Tells you a lot about the book, doesn't it?" Mulder asked.  
They stared at each other. Barnett tensed up as nurses held his hands down.  
"Barnett! Barnett, come on!" The doctor called.  
Barnett's salamander hand fell limp as he flatlined.  
"Vitals dropping..." I said with the man and I could feel Mulder's and Scully's eyes on me.  
"Barnett... shock him, now!"  
Barnett stared at Mulder through the glass, dead.  
"They lost him." Scully stated the obvious.  
"Bastard will take that research with him to the grave." Mulder added.  
"Where do you think it is?"  
"Who knows? If Barnett didn't destroy it, he could have stashed it anywhere. Which would have a cruel irony, wouldn't it? Scientific knowledge that could change the course of mankind buried out in a field somewhere or in some safe deposit box. Getting old, just like the rest of us." Mulder answered.  
"If he didn't destroy it, chances are that somehow, someday, somebody will find it."  
"And when they do... maybe he can get his revenge from beyond the grave but somehow, I feel like we haven't heard the last from John Barnett." Mulder commented.  
Scully turned to me after a moment of silence. "I'm sorry, River."  
I inclined my head towards her. "For what?"  
"For accusing you earlier." She stated.  
"It's alright. It was a logical assumption." I murmered turning away. "No hard feelings." With that I silently walked passed her and I felt my heart stutter as I felt some unknown danger somewhere in the hospital. I scanned around as I walked, but nothing. I knew something was coming for me though. I wasn't sure how, but I didn't doubt the feeling. It hadn't been wrong yet.


	16. EBE

It was morning. I was wearing dark blue jeans, white snakers, a longsleeved form fitting top that went to my hips, and a dark red hoody. Mulder started two stopwatches, leaving one on the truck. He pulled out a geiger counter and took his backpack. Scully picked up a shell off the ground and put it in an evidence bag. Mulder turned on the counter and started walking around. The counter clicked.  
"From the trucker's description, the shape he fired on could conceivably have been a mountain lion." Scully said.  
"Conceivably." Mulder answered.  
"The National Weather Service last night reported atmospheric conditions in this area that were possibly conducive to lightning."  
"Possibly." Mulder said as the clicking grew stronger. Scully took a picture of another shell on the ground. The geiger counter went off the charts at a leaf that was crushed by something.  
"It is feasible that the truck was struck by lightning, creating the electrical failure." Scully continued.  
"It's feasible." Mulder opened an evidence bag and tooks a sample of the leaf.  
Scully stood up. "And you know, there's a marsh over there. The lights the driver saw may have been swamp gas."  
"Swamp gas?" Mulder questioned instead of stated this time.  
"It's a natural phenonemon in which phospine and methane rising from decaying organic matter ignite, creating globes of blue flame." Scully crossed over to him.  
"Happens to me when I eat Dodger Dogs. How can a dozen witnesses including a squad of police vehicles in three counties become hysterical over swamp gas?" Mulder got up and walked back to the car where I was leaning. Scully followed. "I've investigated multiple sitings before: Chespeake Bay, the Okoboji Lakes, Area 51 in Nevada. None had this much supporting evidence. Anecdotal data, exhume residue, radiation levels five times the norm."  
"Mulder, none of that evidence is conclusive." Scully said, causing me to roll my eyes at her.  
"The only question for me is, why was the truck driver singled out?" Mulder continued as if she hadn't spoken.  
"Isn't it more plausible that an exhausted truck driver became swept up in the hysteria and fired at hallucinations? I mean, after all, the road can play tricks on you."  
"Yeah, it can play tricks on you. But not like this." Mulder stopped both stopwatches and placed them down on the truck. "I started these stopwatches at the same time."  
The one on the left, that he had taken with him, read around 37 seconds. The one on the right, that he had left on the truck, read about 28.

The truck driver, named Ranheim, was sitting in an interrogation room with Mulder, Scully, and I. The driver had rashes all over his face.  
"I don't know why they're holding me. This "firing a weapon on a county road" charge is a lot of house manure. I'm a vet and I know how to handle a gun." Mr. Ranhiem said.  
"Mr. Ranheim, I'd appreciate it if you could elaborate on the report you filed last night regarding your encounter." Mulder told him.  
Ranheim rubbed his eye and sighed. After a pause he spoke. "Like a saucer and green and orange lights."  
"Last night, you said it was cigar-shaped and black." Mulder stated.  
"I didn't ask for this to happen." Ranhiem coughed. "All I want to do is deliver my shipment of auto parts and forget…" He coughed wildly. Mulder and Scully watched momentarily, then Scully poured him some water.  
She pushed it over to him. "Pardon me for asking, but how long have you had that cough?"  
He pushed the water back. "Why?"  
"I'm just concerned, you said you were a veteran."  
"What's that got to do with this?"  
"The cough, the fever, the rash. Those are all symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome. That's what she's getting at." I said, causing Ranhiem to jump. Did anyone notice when I was in the room, anymore? Even Scully jumped!  
"I was never in the Gulf War."  
"Ok. So, how long have you not been yourself?" Mulder asked.  
There was another pause. "Since the thing last night."  
Mulder was about to ask another question when a man in a suit, Police Chief Rivers, walked in with an officer.  
"Mr. Ranheim, I'm Police Chief Rivers." He shook Ranheim's hand. "Please, forgive the misunderstanding. Your truck's squared away. You may go."  
"I'd like to examine the truck." Mulder told Chief Rivers.  
"That won't be necessary." Rivers said, looking at me with a strange expression.  
Ranheim got up and left.  
Mulder started to follow. "This man has had an alleged close encounter. The truck undoubtedly contains important trace evidence."  
Rivers stopped Mulder. "You've gotten all you're going to get out of this county. We will no longer cooperate in your investigation."  
"Why?" I asked.  
"Just… go away." He said, looking like he wanted to say more before he left.  
Scully looked at Mulder and was about to say something when he cut her off. "Not… not here."  
They took their things, and Mulder held the door for Scully and I as we left. He closed the door behind us.

A man printed out a rent-a-car slip for us and handed it to Scully, who started filling it out.  
"It's obvious someone got to the police chief. Ranheim was hiding something." Mulder said.  
"Ranheim was sick." Scully said.  
"He only became sick last night." Mulder pointed out.  
A woman walked up to Scully. A woman I didn't like. "Excuse me, can I use your pen?"  
"Mm-hmm." Scully handed the pen to the woman. "What are you suggesting, that Gulf War Syndrome is caused by UFOs?"  
"UFOs are frequently witnessed by soldiers during wartime." Mulder justified.  
The woman handed the pen back. "Thanks."  
We started off towards the bus.  
"Mulder, the only UFOs people are likely to see are secret military aircraft." Scully said, sounding exasperated.  
"What if that's what made the soldiers in Iraq sick? The exhaust or fuel from a classified aircraft or its weapon." Mulder suggested. We boarded the bus and sat down.  
"Well, there is a base in Little Rock. You think that's what the Air Force was flying that night?"  
"They'd deny it, but it could possibly explain how Ranheim developed his symptoms." Mulder answered.  
"Possibly."  
The bus started moving and I leaned back in my seat.  
"I want to talk to some people when we get back to Washington." Mulder said.  
"Mulder, the military isn't going to talk about classified aircraft."  
"No, these guys are like an extreme government watchdog group. They publish a magazine called "The Lone Gunman." Some of their information is first-rate; covert actions, classified weapons. Some of their ideas are downright spooky." Mulder explained and I smiled at the thought of seeing his friends who I had yet to meet, but knew quite a bit about.

Mulder, Scully, and I were sitting in front of the window. Langly had, long hair, unshaven, Ramones t-shirt on, was walking around. Byers was, clean-cut, moustache and beard, suit and tie, was standing in the corner. Frohike, was small and toad-like, took a picture of Scully.  
"So, check it out, Mulder, today I had breakfast with the guy who shot John F. Kennedy." Langly said. I tilted my head to the side.  
"Is that so?" Mulder inquired.  
"Old dude now, but yeah. Says he was dressed as a cop on the grassy knoll." Langly continued.  
"And, Mulder, listen to this. Vladmir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the Russian Social Democrats? He's being put into power by the most heinous and evil force of the 20th century." Byers chimed in.  
"Barney?" Mulder guessed.  
Scully smiled and Langly chuckled.  
Byers seemed unamused. "The C.I.A."  
"Hmm." Scully said, obviously not buying it.  
"Is this your skeptical partner?" Langly asked, looking to her.  
Frohike took another picture. "She's hot."  
"You don't believe that the C.I.A., threatened by a loss of power and funding because of the collapse of the cold war, wouldn't dream of having the old enemy back?" Byers asked.  
"I think you give the government too much credit." Scully said as a phone rang. Langly walked over and picked up the phone and turned on a tape recorder. "I mean, the government can't control the defecit or manage crime…"  
"Lone Gunman." Langly said into the phone.  
"…what makes you think they could plan and execute such an elaborate conspiracy?" Scully finished.  
"She is hot." Frohike said again.  
"Settle down, Frohike." Mulder said.  
Byers walked over to us. "I'm not talking about the bunch of idiots up on the hill trying to bone the capital pages. We're talking about a dark network, a government within a government, controlling our every move."  
"How can they do that?" Scully asked.  
"How? I'll show you how. You got a twenty dollar bill?" Byers asked. I shook my head as I knew what was coming next.  
"Hmmm… I'll check." She dug into her back pocket, looking at Mulder, who smiled back. She pulled out a twenty. She handed it to Byers and he went over to the table. Mulder waved his hands like "I don't know."  
Byers held the bill in front of him and ripped off its left side.  
Scully crossed over to him. "Hey!"  
Mulder laughed and Scully looked back at him.  
Byers pulled out the magnetic anti-counterfeiting strip. "That's just one method. They use this magnetic strip to track you. Whenever you go through a metal detector at an airport, they know exactly how much you're carrying."  
"Hey, Byers, it is a federal crime to deface money." Mulder teased.  
Scully crossed back to Mulder, holding the ripped bill. Langly hung up as she spoke."This strip is an anti-counterfeiting measure."  
"How come it's on the inside? Other countries put that strip on the outside." Langly demanded.  
"I'm going with Langly on this one." I said.  
Langly looked at me. "So, this is the infamous daughter we've heard about?"  
"Yes, this is my daughter, River." Mulder answered.  
I gave the three a small smile. "Nice to finally meet you."  
"What are they hiding?" Byers asked.  
Mulder waved his hands to get their attention. "O… o… ok, alright. What do you know about the Gulf War Syndrome?"  
"Agent Orange of the 90's." Langley said.  
"Artillery shells coated with depleted uranium." Byers added.  
"Have you heard of any classified planes being flown during the Persian Gulf War?" Mulder asked more direct this time.  
"Why would you need to expose a secret plane to an air force that runs to Iran whenever you take to the air?" Byers asked.  
"What about UFO activity during that period?" Mulder inquired further.  
Langly and even Byers laughed. "Yeah, UFOs caused the Gulf War Syndrome, that's a good one."  
"That's why we like you, Mulder, your ideas are weirder than ours." Byers said.  
Mulder laughed a bit and Scully nodded her head slightly in agreement.  
"And what about you?" Langly directed towards me. "Do you agree with your father on his ideas?"  
"Completely." I answered without hesitation.  
"Really?" Byers asked. "So you're a Daddy's girl then?"  
I knew they didn't mean the comment in anything but curiosity, but it still felt strange and the term upset me for some reason. It carried a dark edge with it. I tried to keep my voice even, but it came out forced. "You could say that, but it doesn't mean we're the same person."  
They looked surprised at my tone, but ignored it for the most part. After a moment I stood up sharply and went out into the hallway.  
I could hear Langly ask Mulder if I was always like this.  
"No, not usually." Mulder answered.  
I slid my back down the wall until I was sitting on the floor with my knees to my chest. I closed my eyes as despair and fear clouded my head.

Later when we returned to the office Mulder was looking at the picture Scully took of the shell on the ground with a magnifying glass and another one of the road. I was curled up on the ground, leaning against Mulder's legs.  
Scully was writing. "Those were the most paranoid people I have ever met. I don't know how you could think that what they say is even remotely plausible."  
"I think it's remotely plausible that someone might think you're hot." Mulder disagreed.  
Scully looked at Mulder. She shook her pen and smiled. It still didn't write, so she pulled out the ink and unscrewed her pen. "Did you see the way they answered the telephone? They probably think that every call that they get is monitored and they're followed wherever they go. It's a form of self-delusion. It makes them think that what they're doing is important enough that somebody would…"  
She looked at her pen, and I knew she would find various forms of circuitry in it.  
"What's the matter?" Mulder looked back and gently nudged me so I knew he was getting up and crossed over to Scully, who was holding the pen with her hand on her desk. Mulder kneeled down and pulled her hand closer, inspecting the pen. It contained a listening device.

Mulder walked over to his light, unscrewed the lightbulb and put in a blue one. He opened the blinds, turned off all the other lights and sat down. The blue glow could be seen from outside. Hours had passed, and Mulder had fallen asleep on the couch. The phone rang and Mulder woke up. He got up, crossed to his desk and picked up the phone. "Hello?"  
A click was heard. I stayed on the chair I was curled up on as Mulder left. I quickly fell asleep.

The next morning I put on black jeans, white sneakers, black tanktop with sleeves that went off the shoulders after looping and down to my wrists where they were form fitting, black slim gloves with no fingers, and my leather jacket. I pulled my hair into a ponytail with some hair framing my face.  
Mulder was reading a paper that read this at the top:

SUBJECT: Response to Request for Inf -  
Contact and Other Related I -  
Via: INTERCEPT IRAQI TRANSMISSION  
TO: Commanding Officer, Majestic Project,"

The folder it was in read "TOP SECRET."  
Scully walked in and crossed over, handed some papers to Mulder, and sat down. "The truck is bogus. And so's the truck driver, Ranheim. First I checked his manifest. It listed a truck carrying 180 cartons of auto parts weighing 3,100 pounds. Then I checked with three weigh stations along his route and they have it listed at 5,100 pounds. There's something in that truck, Mulder, and it's not auto parts. And of course, nobody ever reported him. Furthermore, Ranheim lied about being in the Gulf War. His real name is Frank Druce – and I worked hard to get this one. He was Special Operations Black Beret in Mosul, northern Iraq. Also, he didn't get sick from the encounter the other night. He's been to the V.A. hospital for treatment three times this past year."  
Mulder shook his head angrily. "We had it." He got up and continued. "We had it and we let it go. Four days ago, an Iraqi pilot shot down an unidentified flying object. The wreckage, and possibly the occupants, were recovered by the army. Ranheim, the truck driver, would be the perfect escort for the wreckage and/or bodies out of Iraq and into a laboratory in the United States. That would explain why the truck weighs so much more than listed. The military has, in the past, transported dangerous materials and weapons across the country." He laughed and Scully looked perplexed. "I'm beginning to sound like those guys at "The Lone Gunman," right?"  
"Where did you obtain this information?" Scully inquired.  
"Let's just say it's a source with a deep background." Mulder answered and I cocked my head to the side, curiously. After a pause Mulder sat down next to Scully.  
"I want to know all about him." She said and I rolled my eyes.  
"All I know is that he's guided us away from harm." Mulder said.  
"How do you know that? We work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and we're being bugged. What does that tell you?" Scully demanded. That you need to lighten up, I thought.  
"That tells me that not everything is as it appears to be." Mulder answered.  
"Exactly. And for all we know, this "deep background" is the one responsible for the bug."  
"He's never lied to me. I won't break that confidence. I trust him." Mulder stated.  
"Mulder, you're the only one I trust." Scully protested. I glared at her.  
"Then you're gonna have to trust me." Mulder countered. Scully leaned back in her chair. "Did you find out where the truck is now?"  
"Generally. It's heading west. Towards Colorado."  
"Ok, we've got to try and intercept it and see what's on board." Mulder got up and I pushed myself away from the wall. "I'm gonna go get a few things, I'll meet you back at your place in an hour, okay?"  
He took his coat, then put his hand on Scully's shoulder. I fell into step with him as we walked out.

Mulder unlocked the door and we walked in. He tried the light switch, but it didn't work.  
"I cut the main breaker." A voice said and I quickly had a knife in my hand and ready to throw as I turned around.  
Mulder was about to pull his gun when he saw the person sitting in a chair. He sighed, closed the door and crossed over to him. I lowered my arm to my side, figuring this was his informant, but kept the knife out.  
"You risked exposure coming here." Mulder said.  
The man took out an envelope. "What I have here is too important." He stood up, crossed over and handed Mulder the envelope. "The photograph in that envelope was taken by an officer in Fort Benning, Georgia. 17 UFOs were spotted in one hour."  
"Is that where the Iraqi wreckage is being held? Are UFOs monitoring the area?" Mulder questioned.  
"Nice place you have here." The man turned and opened the door. He hadn't spared me a glance.  
"Wait, wait." Mulder protested. The man stopped in the doorway and looked back at Mulder. "I, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you. You've helped my work so much and never asked for anything in return. I know you've put yourself at great risk to do so."  
The man looked a bit ashamed and left, closing the door behind him. Mulder crossed over to the table and picked up the envelope and opened it. He looked at me as we walked out of the apartment with an exectant look on his face.  
"I'm not even going to say anything about your informant." I said with a carefully blank expression. We rode in silence to Scully's place.

The picture was of a policeman standing by a car with trees in the background. The UFO hovered above the trees next to the moon. The UFO was clearly visible in the windshield.  
Scully was looking at it with a magnifying glass.  
"This is the best photographic evidence I have ever seen. When I first saw the Gulf Breeze photos, I knew they were a hoax but this… this is the quality of evidence the government has amassed for decades at the highest classified levels. That business with the truck was just a decoy to keep anyone from looking closely away from Fort Benning where they are keeping the remains of the Iraqi UFO. We have to leave for Georgia immediately, Scully…" Mulder said, excited.  
"Mulder, this photograph is a fake." Scully said.  
"What?" Mulder demanded.  
"Look." She said. He knelt down and she showed him the policeman through the magnifying glass. "This soldier's shadow is alledgedly created by the lights from the UFO. But it falls in a direction contradictory to the craft's position."  
"There can be an off-camera light source creating that shadow." Mulder disagreed.  
"Now look closely at the color of the light reflected in the windshield. Now that reflection should be from the red lights in the UFO but it doesn't match the color of the ship's light." Scully pointed out.  
"There's probably a degree of tint in the windshield or the gradation could be attributed to atmospheric conditions." Mulder countered.  
"We should have it analyzed." Scully suggested.  
Mulder stood. "Why don't you just admit it, Scully? You're determined not to believe him."  
"Well, maybe you're too determined to believe him." Scully shot back.  
Mulder collected the pictures and took his coat, motioning for me to follow. "I am determined to follow a lead that may result in proof of the existence of extraterrestrial biological entities. I need to go."  
We started off.  
"Mulder, listen to me." Scully pleaded.  
"No." Mulder said immedeately.  
"Please, will you just hear me?" Scully stood. He stopped and turned around. I stood in front of the front door. "I have never met anyone so passionate and dedicated to a belief as you. It's so intense that sometimes it's blinding. But there are others who are watching you, who know what I know and whereas I can respect and admire your passion, they will use it against you. Mulder, the truth is out there but so are lies."  
"Thank you." Mulder said before turning and leaving with me behind him.  
"Dad, I'm going to have to agree with Scully on this. Not because of what she said, but because of the tests that I did on it." I said when we got into the car.  
He looked over at me. "I thought you were on my side."  
"On most things yes." I answered. "Get it analyzed and if I was wrong you can rub it in my face."  
It was silent after that.

The next day I was wearing dark blue skinny jeans, my black combat boots, leather jacket and a white T-shirt. I kept my hair down.  
I watched as Scully looked at the briefcase that was now lying down. Mulder and I walked towards her. Mulder had the photo in his hand.  
"I had the photo analyzed by the bureau's computers. Initially, it appears to be legitimate. The film grain matches, the pattern and density, color levels, shading… then I noticed this." He sat down showed her the moon in the picture. He then showed her the reflection. "It's the moon, half full. I had the reflection in this window enlarged to 25. There's the moon again, a quarter full. Not to mention the fact that the window couldn't even catch the moon's reflection from that angle. You were right, Scully. It's a fake. He tried to decieve us. Now we're alone on this. There's no one we can trust. They went to a lot of trouble to put us on the wrong track. There's something here that no one's supposed to find."

Mulder dropped me off before leaving saying he had something he needed to do. I went to my room and collapsed on the bed, closing my eyes and taking a nap. I woke up to loud thuds coming from the living room. I walked out to see Mulder tearing apart the apartment. I watched as he unscrewed the plug fixture in the wall. The doorbell rang a moment later.  
"Mulder? Are you home?" Scully called.  
Mulder went to the door and opened it. "Hey, Scully, glad you could drop by."  
I went and sat on the couch as I surveyed the two.  
Mulder signaled for Scully to be quiet and lead her into the room. "I've been thinking about this whole situation, y'know? And I think you're right. I think we won this one, I think we should just move on." He pointed down at the fixture. Scully kneeled down, looked at it and stood up. Mulder wrote on some paper "We have to find the truck."  
Scully nodded in agreement. "I think this time you're right, Mulder."  
I was guessing he had found a bug, so I just stayed silent as I stood and left the apartment. Scully and Mulder followed.

Mulder, Scully, and I drove down a busy street and pulled over to the side. Another car kept going and pulled over two cars ahead of us. Scully got out of the passenger seat, as does a man from the other car. I climbed into the passenger seat and buckled myself. Mulder pulled out and drove down the street. The other car followed him. We came to a red light and Mulder looked in his rearview mirror. There were two cars behind us. The light turned green and Mulder hit the accelerator, making a sharp left turn, causing traffic to swerve to avoid us. I looked back to see that the other car couldn't follow for the moment, but eventually it would get through. Mulder headed for the airport. We split up when we got there after he gave me enough cash to buy a ticket.

I watched from my spot next to the candy machines as Mulder nonchalantly walked by Scully, and neither acknowledged each other. Mulder headed for the magazine racks, and Scully followed. They both picked up magazines, pretending to read.  
I slowly drifted over to a rack of clothes that was nearby, browsing through and grimacing at the choices as I listened.  
"Called every weigh station and bureau office west of Colorado. Tied up an airphone for three hours. I don't speak Japanese, but I think some businessman told me to stick a piece of sushi where the sun don't shine." Mulder said.  
"My ear's numb from being on hold for so many hours." Scully replied.  
"At least we can be sure they didn't trace our call. I couldn't find the truck. Did you have any luck?" Mulder directed the last to both of us.  
"No." Scully answered.  
"It's heading northwest on I-90." I supplied.

It was now 6:30 P.M. The truck headed down I-90. Mulder, Scully, and I were waiting in our rental car. Scully was looking through binoculars, and Mulder was eating sunflower seeds, while I stole from him ocassionally.  
"Y'know, think about it. This truck drove across America. People it passed on the road probably thought it was hauling auto parts or furniture. Y'know, livestock, whatever. Nobody would have suspected it was hauling a craft from another world." Mulder spoke.  
"Here we go." Scully lowered her binoculars as the truck passed by and Mulder started the car and we turned onto the highway.

Hours later, we were still chasing the car. It was now dark outside. I rolled my head in a circle as Mulder yawned.  
"Mulder, we've been following this truck for hours. Maybe he knows we're following him, and he's taking an evasive route." Scully suggested.  
"Well, if that were the case…" Mulder trailed off as the radio turned on and started flipping through channels rapidly. Hail started hitting the car, there was a loud hum, and then a bright light. I cried out and curled into a fetal position as my stomach felt like it was filled with boiling water. I couldn't think through the pain. I groaned as the car stopped suddenly in front of the truck, which was now vacant and turned around.  
Mulder got out of the car with his flashlight. "You all right?"  
"Yeah." Scully answered.  
I carefully uncurled from my position as the burning subsided. "Yes."  
"Come on." Mulder motioned though he looked worried still.  
Scully and I got out of the car.  
"Ranheim? Ranheim?" Scully called. We went to the back of the truck. The doors were open. Climbing in, we started moving boxes. Mulder pushed through until he was faced with a bright red glow. Scully and I were close behind.  
"Scully?" Mulder called. We were looking at what looked to be a life-support unit. "It was an extraterrestrial biological entity… alive."  
"Where'd it go?" Scully questioned.  
"I think we were just witness to a rescue mission." Mulder answered.  
I looked at the tubing and the platform where the alien was laying. Mulder started another stopwatch on the ground outside the truck then went into and climbed out of the truck, having used his geiger counter. Scully was holding the flashlight. We started walking to the stopwatch after I hopped out of the truck.  
"Mulder, I can't stop shaking. What we just saw – did it fit the profile?" Scully asked.  
"Are you asking me if it was real? Did we just have a close encounter?" Mulder checked. Scully nodded yes. We stopped. He bent down and picked up the stopwatch. He pulled out another stopwatch that had been going and stopped them both. "No, it was another hoax." He showed them to Scully and I. They both read 38. We started walking back to the car.  
"But how could anyone generate such force?" Scully asked.  
"Whatever they used, we probably haven't heard of it. Sound weapons, stealth helicopters with an ultra-intensity light. It doesn't matter, there's no evidence that this was a UFO." Mulder said.  
"So they created this elaborate show just to deflect us again. I mean, wouldn't it have been easier just for them to –"  
"Just to kill us? Yeah, I wondered that myself. Maybe they're using me against myself like you said before. That I want to believe so badly that I'd just accept the obvious conclusions and walk away." Mulder interrupted.  
We stopped at the car.  
"Now we have nothing to go on. No one to turn to." Scully stated.  
"There's still one person in all this who hasn't lied to us. But it's not quite someone we can turn to." Mulder said.

Scully was writing at the desk in the hotel room we had rented while Mulder spoke on the phone with various maps in front of him. I sat on the bed and watched.  
"Leverling and Priest Rapids? East bank of the Columbia River? Did you send a field investigator? And you can substantiate the sighting? Ok, Nick, thanks a lot." Mulder hung up and crossed to Scully with a map and I slowly got up and walked over to the two. "I've contacted several organizations that have hotlines for UFO reports. Center of UFO Studies in Chicago, MUFON, NICAP… none of them have ever reported a week of such activity. It began in Tennessee where Ranheim was encountered."  
He traced his finger down the line where the truck went, which was covered with red circles marking UFO sightings.  
"The sightings are following the path of the truck." Scully stated the obvious.  
"And after last night's hoax… look at this." Mulder took out another map and circled another spot. "Seven sightings in Mattawa, Washington. That's 100 miles away."  
"Aliens?" Scully questioned.  
"Looks like they want their colleague back." Mulder replied.

Mulder, Scully, and I were driving in our car.  
"We've driven full circle through Mattawa twice. There's nothing here." Scully complained.  
Mulder spotted something and stopped the car. "What's over there?"  
About 20 people were gathered around a fire in the woods. Loud music was blasting. Mulder, Scully, and I got out of the car and went to the center of the campsite. There was a sign that said "Welcome, Space Brothers." Many people were dressed like aliens as well.  
"We have been waiting! Welcome to our home! We are willing to go with you!" A guy in an alien suit said.  
Mulder waved to some people and we stopped at a man dressed in all red carrying a beer.  
"Ahh-doo-nay-va-so barahghas. That's an intergalactic space greeting. That means, "hello, space brothers."" He told us. I raised my eyebrow at him.  
"Hello." Mulder greeted.  
"What's going on here?" Scully asked.  
"A UFO party." The man responded.  
"You've seen UFOs?" Mulder inquired.  
"The last two nights. They're drawn to our electric power. They hover over our power plant down there." He pointed to the power plant.  
"Everyone! They are here! Space brothers!"  
Mulder, Scully, and I looked at the plant. Ranheim was being led through a gate by a cop.

Later Mulder, Scully, and I were in the car.  
Mulder was looking through the binoculars. "This is it. There's Ranheim."  
"This place has got to have the highest level of security." Scully commented.  
"Just the kind of challenge they're looking for." Mulder murmured.  
"Who?" Scully inquired.  
Mulder started to dial the phone.  
"Lone Gunman." I heard on the other end f the phone. It was Langly.  
"It's Mulder. Turn the tape recorder off." Mulder told him.  
"Ok, it's off." Langly lied.  
"Turn it off!" Mulder repeated.  
"It's off already." Langly replied.  
"How would you like to have, on your front page, the first substantiated photo of an extraterrestrial biological entity?" Mulder questioned.  
"No way, an E.B.E.? What do we have to do?"  
"Just hack me some identification numbers." Mulder answered.

"Braidwood and Stefoff." Mulder said. "And Riekan."  
A man tore off a pass and came out of the booth. "Personal identification number?"  
"7-5-9-3." Mulder answered.  
"5-3-1-1." Scully replied after a moment.  
"8-2-6-4-3-1-7-9-0." I said with authority in my voice. I had put on some make-up that Scully had to make myself look older. I had purposefully made it dark so I looked more intimidating. I had dark red lipstick paired with black eyeshadow and eyeliner.  
"Open the trunk, please." The man said, with a slightly shaky voice. Riekan must be powerful here. Mulder popped the trunk as the man went to the back of the car. He looked through the trunk and closed it. "Park in Lot 4." He put a sticker on the windshield.  
"Thanks." Mulder siad. The gate opened and Mulder started the car.  
As we started to go through, the man came out of the booth again. "Hey, wait!"  
Mulder and Scully looked at each other. I sat back, my hand at my hip where my pocket knife was. Judging by all the guns I had seen, I was assuming they weren't too friendly.  
The man came up to the window with two clip-on passes and a pass that would go around the neck. "Display these at all times. Proceed."  
Mulder took them and nodded. We walked through hallways where phones were ringing.  
"Langly said he couldn't get into Level 6, so that's where we…" Mulder trailed off as we spotted a security gaurd in front of the door that stated:

"LEVEL 6  
CLEARANCE  
AA ACCESS  
ONLY"

We kept walking until we got to a pair of double doors. We stopped.  
"We have to go back, we have to go through that door." Mulder said.  
"We're gonna look suspicious going back." Scully pointed out.  
"Well, we'll have to find another access, then. Come on." Mulder reasoned.  
"Mulder, they're not going to let us." Scully protested.  
We turned around to head back but were met by the security guard. "You folks come with me, please?"  
"Yeah, we're lost, we're just looking for, we're trying to…" Mulder said.  
"Just proceed down the hallway." The guard instructed.  
"Yeah, if you could help us…" Mulder began again.  
"Mulder, stop. We're agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation." Scully reached for her badge as I looked at her shocked. She was crazy! My hand drifted towards my pantline as the guard reached for his gun. "I'm reaching for my ID." He nodded, she showed it. "We're here conducting an investigation."  
"Proceed down the hallway, please." The guard instructed again.  
Scully sighed and we all walked down the hallway. The guard started talking into his walkie-talkie. "This is Level Two to Level Six. I have a male and two females who have identified themselves…"  
Mulder suddenly bolted to the Level Six door and it only took a second before I was following.  
"Mulder, River, no!" I heard Scully call after us.  
"Hey, stop!" The guard yelled after us.  
Mulder opened the door and we dashed down the stairs. I was breathing evenly as we passed a sign that said:

NO ENTRY UNLESS:

1. Accompanied By a Staff Member Of High Voltage Research.  
Or 2. Written Permission Obtained From Security Level 6"

The security guards were close behind us.  
Mulder, about to go down a catwalk, tried to jump over a sign that said "DANGER: HIGH VOLTAGE" but missed and hurt his leg. I didn't slow down when I saw this, but sped up. Jumping to the side, I used the wall as leverage so I could vault over the sign. Mulder had already gotted up and was limping down the catwalk as I continued to run.  
Mulder and I entered a room with a humongous, futuristic machine in the middle, with a red glass pane on one of the walls.  
"Hold it! I said hold it!" One of the guards yelled.  
Mulder and I made our way over, but before we could look inside, the guards surrounded us.  
"Halt!" The guards cocked their guns and Mulder turned around. I looked over at them slightly. One grabbed him by the wrist and took Mulder's gun. Mulder put his hands up.  
Another of the guards grabbed my arm. "Must be a Dady's Girl to have followed like that." He commented.  
At the phrase a picture of a stranger's face flashed in my mind and I was suddenly lashing out. I leapt up, pulling my pocket knife out as I kicked back with both my feet and threw the knife in an arc. As I twisted after the guard fell back from the force of my attack I saw my knife hit every single gun, sending them flying, along with my knife. I landed in a crouch facing them. As soon as my feet touched the floor my fist was already striking one of the men's kneecaps. I heard it snap and as their surprise at my strength and newfound skill wore off I began to throw more punches adding kicks. I had downed most of the men before one of them managed to draw a knife and slash at me. It hit just shy of my jugular and the pain made me pause for a second, but it was enough for him to pull my arms behind me and pin me to the ground. My arms burned in protest as he yanked them up my spine, but I refused to cry out. I did let myself go limp though as soon as the rage that yhad come over me ebbed. But there had been  
something else as well. Fear? Mulder had been held back during the whole thing and I wasn't sure if he would've helped me or them.  
"Let them go." The man that had been in our apartment walked in, carrying a gun.  
"But, sir she just downed our whole squad." One of the men protested as they all stumbled to thier feet.  
"Let them go! You're dismissed." He emphasized.  
The guard that was pinning me, slowly let go of my arms and quickly backed up as I braced my hands on the ground to push myself to my feet. My arms screamed in protest, but I ignored them. When I was standing I held a hand to my neck, realizing the burning pain there along with the blood.  
The guards walked out. Deep Throat - that's what I decided to call him - took Mulder's gun back and gave it to Mulder, who warily took it. I watched Deep Throat as he spoke. "I know how badly, how… very badly you want to look through that window…" Mulder tried to look, but Deep Throat got in his way. "But it would be pointless. It's dead. After the Roswell incident in 1947, even at the brink of the Cold War, there was an ultrasecret conference attended by the United States, the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, Britain, both Germanies, France and it was agreed that should any extraterrestrial biological entity survive a crash, the country that held that being would be responsible for it's extermination. I, uh… have the distinction of being one of three men to have exterminated such a creature." Mulder looked at him in awe, yet betrayed. Deep Throat walked around. "I was with the C.I.A. in Vietnam. A UFO was sighted for five nights over Hanoi. The marines shot hit down and brought it to us. Maybe… it didn't know what a gun was or perhaps they don't show emotion but that… innocent and blank expression as I pulled the trigger has haunted me… until I found you. That's why I come to you, Mr. Mulder, and will continue to come to you to atone for what I've done. And maybe sometime, through you, the truth will be known."  
Mulder looked through the window. There was an empty cot. Deep Throat looked through as well.

The doors to the outside opened and Mulder, Deep Throat, and I stepped outside.  
"You're awfully quiet, Mr. Mulder." Deep throat commented.  
"I'm wondering which lie to believe." Mulder stated.  
Deep Throat chuckled and walked off. The security guard showed Scully out, who crossed to Mulder.  
I backed away from her when she tried to look at my neck. "I'm fine." I managed though my voice was laced with pain. "Let's just go."

Later when Mulder and I got home - after he stubbornly took me to the hospital to get my wound bandaged - Mulder followed me to my room.  
"What was that?" He demanded angrily.  
"What exactly are you referring to?" I questioned as I sat on my bed, taking off my jacket.  
"At the Plantation when you downed those men in about a minute." He clarified.  
"I don't how I did that." I murmured. "And I'm not quite sure why I did that either."  
"Well, what did they do to set you off?" He questioned sitting down beside me.  
"Besides point guns at us?" I said sarcastically. "I don't know. It was when he called me a Daddy's Girl."  
"And what's wrong with that?" Mulder questioned, obviously confused.  
"I'm not sure, but I remembered something before I hit any of them." I murmured as I layed down on my mattress.  
"What did you remember?" Mulder queried.  
"A man's face." I answered. "Someone I qualify as the devil."


End file.
